


The Last One Standing

by lj_todd



Series: Unbreakable [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Knotting, M/M, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Past Mating Bond, Past Relationship(s), Past Torture, heat - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 02:05:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 47,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3918799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lj_todd/pseuds/lj_todd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been months since the Undertaking. Months since hundreds died. Including Oliver's mate. By Oliver's own hand. Now Oliver is left to pick up the pieces. Struggling to continue his crusade to save his city while trying to balance being a caring father and dutiful son and run his family's company. Just as things start to look good again secrets from his past come roaring to light putting everyone Oliver loves in danger.</p>
<p>Oliver has to find a way to conquer his past, the demons from it, before he loses everything to a promise made in rage and hate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [【授翻】屹立不倒（原：坚持到最后）](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13427484) by [Flash2017](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flash2017/pseuds/Flash2017)



It had been months since the Undertaking and Oliver still felt an ache like a raw, open wound.

Five-hundred-and-three people had died that night.

Tommy had died.

Malcolm had died.

Moira had taken the blame for it all.

And the world just kept on spinning.

Oliver had, in his pain and grief filled state, taken Robbie and returned to Lian Yu, thinking it was the best place for them until his mind and body could finally accept that Malcolm, his Alpha, was gone. He only returned to his city when Felicity and Diggle tracked him down and explained what was going on back in Starling City. His mother was facing murder charges because of the Undertaking and his family was in danger of losing _Queen Consolidated_ in a takeover by a woman, a snarky Beta, named Isabel Rochev.

Oliver managed, with help from Walter and the bank the Alpha worked at, to secure enough shares in the company to not fully lose it. But he was forced to be co-CEO with Isabel who, right from the beginning, let him know that she was about as keen on the idea as he was.

Of course being back in Starling drew him back into his role as the vigilante when a group of men, who'd all lost someone in the Undertaking, decided to punish the Queen family for Moira's involvement in the devastation by abducting Thea, who had started running _Verdant_ in Oliver's absence, planning to execute her as justice for what they had lost. Oliver managed to save her and in doing so he realized that his work as the vigilante wasn't done. But he knew he couldn't do things the way he had. He couldn't kill. In Tommy's name he would spare lives. Not take them.

Knowing he owed it to his friend Oliver went to Tommy's grave and silently told his friend that he was no longer going to be a killer. For Tommy's sake, for his memory, he would strive to be better. To stop being a killer. As he stood to leave he found Laurel standing just a few feet away.

"I didn't mean to disturb you," she said, looking at him like she didn't know what exactly to say or do. "I didn't know you were here. I was just...I come here a lot."

Oliver nodded his understanding.

He knew what it was to only have a gravestone as a reminder of the person you loved.

He'd searched the cemetery before finding Tommy's, searching for Malcolm's.

There hadn't been one.

Laurel drew him from his thoughts with her next words. "I can go."

"No," he said immediately, hurriedly, not wanting her to feel she should leave just because he was there. "You don't have to." She slowly turned and looked at him again. "Laurel, I...I understand. After everything that's happened I...I understand. But...But I still need you in my life."

Laurel gave him a soft look before walking over to him. "We've been through too much for it to be any other way," she said as she reached out and took his hand, standing there, looking at Tommy's grave. Oliver drew a shallow breath as he looked at the stone. At Tommy's name.

"I feel like I betrayed him," he admitted, even though he could never truly tell Laurel why, and Laurel let out a soft sound.

"Before the Hood we didn't have things like earthquake machines and copycat vigilantes..."

"Laurel." Oliver knew she was angry and that in her anger she was blaming the vigilante, blaming him, even if she didn't know it but he also knew she had once believed in the vigilante and his crusade to save the city. "Malcolm...Malcolm killed Tommy."

He hated saying those words. Hated that they were true.

Laurel didn't accept his words like he thought she would.

"He was caught in the crossfire between two archers," she said, looking at him with a look that said there was only one person she blamed. "And now that Malcolm's dead there's only one archer left. And I'm going to help my boss catch him."

Oliver stiffened, more because of her mention of Malcolm than her words about wanting to catch the vigilante, to catch him, and she suddenly gripped his hand a little tighter.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, expression softening. "I didn't...I can't imagine how Malcolm's...death...must have hurt you."

Oliver gave a small, bitter smile. "I'm dealing with it."

Laurel gave a tiny smile as she stepped a little closer, her presence a comfort but not enough to ease the ache in his chest. The ache that felt like a knife being twisted. Neither spoke again as they continued to stand there looking at Tommy's grave, both thinking of what could have been if their friend hadn't died.

When Oliver eventually returned home he found Robbie curled up in his room, sleeping, and he smiled as he settled next to her. He found those old dog tags tucked into her hand and his smile became a bit sad as he looked at the name stamped into the smooth metal. Malcolm wasn't the first Alpha he'd lost because of his own stupidity. His own inability to see what was truly happening around him. Continuing to look at the tags, at the name, his mind wandered into the past.

_He was sparing with Slade, the bamboo staffs serving as substitutes for Slade's swords, and he was doing worlds better than he had months ago when Slade had first started teaching him and, as the man blocked one of his strikes, they both grinned even as the Alpha chuckled._

_They both turned when Shado entered the plane, carrying a few small birds in a cage, Oliver couldn't help but smile at her but Slade, seeing an opportunity, struck with his bamboo and delivered a sharp blow to his face, dropping him with a grunt of pain to his knees._

_"You're not the only one to learn the hard way," Slade said as he stepped around him, giving him a bit of a grin. "Women are a distraction."_

_Despite Slade's words Oliver grinned at Shado as she approached him while Slade moved off a few steps. He quickly got to his feet and Shado smiled a bit. "You've come very far in a few months," she said as she reached up, checking his face where Slade had struck him. It would bruise but the skin wasn't split. "Don't beat yourself up."_

_Oliver couldn't help but chuckle. "Pretty sure that's his job," he said as he gestured behind him to where Slade was standing._

_The male Alpha snorted but was grinning. "And I love my job," he said, only a hint of snark in his tone. "Not that I wouldn't trade it for a way off this island."_

_At that exact moment Robbie, tucked up in her makeshift crib, stood up and made a sleepy, grumpy sound even as she rubbed at her eyes. Oliver started to move but Slade beat him to it. The Alpha scooped Robbie up, smiling at her even as her tiny hands gripped at the worn fabric of his shirt._

_"Hello, little bird," he cooed to her with a grin, his voice and accent, as familiar to her as her father's, quickly had that grumpy look vanishing and a smile and giggles bubbling forth. "Did you have a nice nap, hmm?"_

_Robbie giggled and her head bobbed and Slade's grin grew. "That's my good girl," he said as he shifted her so she was balanced in one arm. "Not whiny like your daddy, are you? No you're not. Such a sweet little bird you are."_

_Oliver rolled his eyes even as Shado sniggered. "Would you stop telling my daughter I'm whiny? Please?"_

_Slade's grin grew as he looked from Oliver to Robbie, kissing her curls, chuckling faintly. "Hear that, little bird," he said, seeing the annoyance in the Omega's face. "That's your daddy being whiny."_

_Oliver groaned and Slade chuckled even as Robbie giggled, snuggling closer to Slade, grinning brightly and murmuring the word_ dad _even as Slade kissed her curls again. The sight of the two had Oliver's frown disappearing and a smile quickly gracing his face even as Shado bumped her hip against him, smiling as she pressed a kiss to his cheek before turning to tend to the birds she'd caught for their dinner._

_It wasn't a perfect life, though it had become much better in the five months since they'd stopped Fyers, but in that moment Oliver wouldn't have traded it for the world._

Oliver was pulled from the memory when someone knocked softly at his door.

Carefully moving, not wanting to wake Robbie, he stood and crossed to the door, opening it to find Thea standing there. "Hey," he said softly and Thea gave a weak smile.

"I...I saw the light and just..." Thea gave him this look and Oliver smiled as he reached out, wrapping his arm around his sister before drawing her into the room and to the bed. Together they snuggled with Robbie on the bed. It wasn't much but, for the moment, it was enough for them both.


	2. Chapter 2

It didn't take long for his work as the vigilante to continue.

The Triad began hijacking medical trucks in the Glades. Which caused him to once more cross paths with China White. Only this time she didn't come along. She brought along a partner, Ben Turner, known by his codename of Bronze Tiger. Despite being outnumbered and his new vow not to kill, Oliver managed to take them both down. During his investigation into the hijackings he also met one of the city's aldermen. Sebastian Blood. He also decided to recruit Roy into the fold, though without revealing his true identity as he had with Diggle and Felicity.

Not long after he risked going to Laurel, as the vigilante, hoping to convince he that he wasn't her enemy but she proved her declaration to do anything to take the vigilante down by springing an SCPD SWAT team on him. Thankfully he was saved, by a mysterious blonde woman in a mask wielding some sort of sonic weaponry.

It prompted him to begin looking into the new mysterious figure.

Felicity managed to discover that the woman, who smelt like an Alpha but Oliver was certain she wasn't, had been essentially beating the crap out of thugs and criminals in the Glades for a while now. Felicity sounded quite impressed when she declared the mystery blonde had put five would be rapists in the hospital.

Before Oliver could continue searching for the woman his attention was drawn to an escaped criminal from Iron Heights. Barton Mathis, The Dollmaker, a psychotic serial killer who suffocated his victims by pouring a flexible polymer down their throats before dressing them up like dolls. He'd been originally arrested by Lance, who since the Undertaking had been demoted, and it quickly became apparent he was taunting Lance before outright targeting him by abducting Laurel. The insane Omega's plan was to kill her, turn her into one of his dolls, in front of Lance as revenge for his initial arrest and incarceration.

Oliver managed to intervene but Mathis had fled, nearly escaping, but the blonde vigilante suddenly appeared and, after a brief scuffle with Mathis, killed the man with one of her eskrima sticks before disappearing again.

It took some time but Oliver eventually realized that the blonde vigilante seemed to be keeping watch over Laurel and her father and, after staking out Laurel's apartment night after night the woman eventually revealed herself. It took a bit of work, using trick arrows, to capture her but he managed it.

He wasn't surprised when the woman threw one of her little sonic devices on the ground, clearly hoping to use it to buy time to escape the ropes, but thanks to Felicity tweaking the comms they used it didn't do anything but annoy him a bit. "Does it get any louder?" He taunted as he stepped closer, the device shutting down, no doubt a hidden trigger in the woman's glove. "Why are you following Laurel Lance?"

"I could ask the same thing of you," she replied curtly, looking at him coldly from behind the black mask she wore. "I guess some things never change. You and her. Always and forever."

Oliver regarded the woman for a moment, her voice was familiar but he couldn't place it, nor did he understand how she seemed to know so much about him and Laurel.

"Who are you?"

She smirked a bit. "Once you know your life will never be the same."

"I can take it."

"Not this time," she said softly, tipping her head a little as he stepped closer. "Ollie."

His heart leapt into his throat. She knew who he was. Knew the nickname only a select few had ever called him. And in that moment his mind screamed at him. Screamed one name. An impossible name. Reaching up he carefully pushed the wig from the woman's head, taking her mask with it, and as her face was bared to him his world tilted on its axis. She had been right. His life would never be the same.

He shoved his own hood back as he stared at her and staggered back a step.

"Sara."

"I'll give you some time," she said, looking at him sadly. "Let it sink in."

He continued to stare at her, at least until her sonic device suddenly exploding, throwing him back and giving her time to escape and disappear before he could right himself. His mind kept racing with what he had just learned. He couldn't believe it. Sara. Sara Lance. Laurel's sister. The sister he'd taken on his father's yacht. The sister who had died.

She was alive.

And she was back in Starling.

But hadn't told her family.

Which made him wonder why.

Oliver returned to the foundry and informed his friends what he had learned.

They were both shocked to say the least.

And Felicity, being Felicity, had to question how Sara was alive. Especially since Oliver had told everyone that Sara had died when the Gambit went down. It was Diggle who figured it out.

"You lied."

Oliver sighed.

"When the Gambit capsized Sara was pulled under," he explained, not looking at either of his friends, the memories of that night, of screaming for Sara even after his father had pulled him into the life raft, ran through his mind like a horrid movie. "It was so dark and cold and I...I thought she drowned. About a year later I saw her."

Diggle gave a shocked look. "You saw her where? On...On the island? She drifted to the island too?"

Oliver looked at the man.

"Not exactly."

"Why didn't you tell the Lances that she didn't die on that boat," Felicity asked softly, looking at him with confusion. "Laurel and Mr Lance they blame you."

"Because it was my fault," he replied calmly, remembering how he'd always felt he deserved the Lance family's hatred for what had happened to Sara. If he hadn't convinced her to go with him then she never would have go through hell. She would have been safe with her family. "What happened was my fault."

"Well where has she been all these years," Diggle said, knowing there was no sense trying to convince Oliver what had happened wasn't his fault, but his question only seemed to stir Oliver's anger.

"I don't know," the Omega snarled loudly, shooting Diggle a sharp look. "Diggle, I swear to God, I was sure she was...dead."

"Okay," Diggle said with a deep breath. "Just to make sure I understand this correctly, after not drowning when the Gambit went down Sara didn't exactly make it to the island with you where you would see her die yet again. Feel free to fill in the blanks."

"Not right now."

Oliver all but begged but his friend wasn't going to let it go.

"You mean not ever, don't you, Oliver?"

Felicity jumped in before either man could start shouting at each other which was where their conversation seemed to be heading.

"Don't you think her family had the right to know she made it to the island too," she asked, missing the tension in Oliver's entire body, missing how upset he seemed to be growing.

"These were five years," the Omega all but roared as he looked up, expression twisted with rage, guilt and pain. "Five years where nothing good happened!" He paused when he saw the shocked expression on Felicity's face but he pressed on despite feeling like his heart was, once again, crawling into his throat. "And they were better off not knowing."

"Do they deserve to know now," Diggle asked, sounding almost calm and logical, but Oliver saw the fire in the Alpha's eyes. He knew what his friend was thinking. What his friend wanted him to do. But he couldn't. No matter how much he wanted to. It wasn't his secret to tell. Instead of answering his friend's question he did what he did best when confronted with issues he didn't want to deal with.

He deflected by saying he had things he needed to attend to at the office.

He also made a point of asking about the Mayor, a major gunrunner in the Glades who'd been causing chaos as of late, Diggle told him he had some contacts trying to figure out how the man was getting his hands on his illegal army weaponry. And that he'd keep Oliver updated. As the Omega went to leave Diggle had another remark to make.

"You know, Oliver, somebody once told me that secrets have weight. The more you keep the harder it is to keep moving."

Oliver turned back, looking at Diggle with a cold expression while snarking. "You see how hard I work out."

He could tell, from Diggle's expression, that the Alpha didn't think it was funny.

Without another word he turned and left.


	3. Chapter 3

A few days later Oliver was surprised when, after arriving at _Verdant_ he was approached by Sara.

Once they were inside the club she turned to him and, instead of a hello or other normal greeting, the first words out of her mouth was, "Did you tell my family I'm alive?"

"No." He shook his head, finding it hard to believe that she'd sought him out just to ask him that.

When she turned away from him he quickly darted in front of her, afraid if she walked away now he'd never see her again. "Sara," he said softly, looking at the face of a woman he'd once been convinced he loved. "I saw you die."

"Not the first time that's happened, right?"

She seemed to realize that it wasn't as funny as she'd likely meant it to be because she gave a soft sigh.

"I thought you were dead too." She studied him for a moment. "What happened to Slade?"

He was somewhat surprised by the question and, true to himself, he deflected.

"Where have you been," he asked instead of answering her question, even though she truly deserved an answer, an explanation, especially after everything that had happened on that godforsaken island.

"Everywhere," she replied and he saw in her eyes that she knew he was purposefully avoiding talking about Slade.

"That's not an answer."

Her expression clearly said _pot, kettle_.

"That's the one you're getting."

She slowly turned away from him again as she quietly spoke.

"About a year ago I started hearing tales of the Starling City vigilante," she turned back to him. "The man in the green hood. I knew it was you."

"I have never known you to be much of a fighter," he replied with a slight joke. "Where did you pick that up?"

"I met some rough people." Her words, her expression, told him she had suffered hardships beyond those they'd suffered on Lian Yu. "Thought I should get rougher too."

"Sara." Oliver shook his head and stepped closer, causing Sara to look at him with an unreadable expression. "Why did you come back?"

Her expression told him she couldn't figure out if it was a serious question or not but she answered regardless. "The earthquake."

Oliver understood then.

"You wanted to make sure your family was safe."

She gave the faintest of nods.

Oliver let out a low sound. "But you're still here, watching over them," he said, pointing out the obvious. "Protecting them. So, did you come here to make _sure_ I didn't tell them or because you were _hoping_ I had?"

Before Sara could answer someone was knocking at the club door. Oliver went to get rid of whoever it was so they could continue talking. He was surprised to discover it was Quentin Lance. "Mr Lance?" He knew Sara had heard him but he didn't look back at her, merely stepped out of the club and let the door fall shut behind him. "Is there something I can help you with?"

He couldn't fathom what Lance would want with or from him.

"I'm here about my daughter," Lance said and for a moment Oliver had a heart stopping thought that the man knew Sara was alive and make in Starling. Something on his face must have prompted it but Lance clarified by stating Laurel's name.

"Is she okay," Oliver asked, quickly recovering from his moment of shock.

What Lance told him convinced him that Laurel wasn't handling Tommy's death as well as she'd made it seemed. She'd apparently been pulled over with a DUI the prior night and wasn't listening or talking to Lance about what was going on. The man made it clear he thought she would listen to Oliver. Once Lance left Oliver returned to the club, hoping to return to the conversation he'd been having with Sara, but he found that, during his talk with Lance, Sara had left.

Rubbing a hand over his face he turned and left the club, deciding to do what Lance had asked of him and go talk to Laurel.

A talk that did not go well.

He would have tried again, later, after Laurel had calmed down, but his attention was once more drawn to the gun runner in the Glades after the man and his thugs hit a cash for guns drive hosted by Sebastian Blood and ended up opening fire into the crowd. During the shootout a young woman, Sin, a friend of Roy's and Sara's, was shot.

Once back at the foundry Felicity managed to use FBI facial recognition software to identify the Mayor. Xavier Reed. The man had been in and out of foster homes and, as it turned out, one of his foster brothers worked a military weapons convoy. A convoy scheduled to pass through Starling that very night. If the Mayor got a hold of weapons from that convoy it would make him nearly unstoppable.

Suiting up Oliver tracked Sara to the hospital where Sin was.

"I want to see how you do in a real fight," he said as she stepped up beside him, seeing the tension, the rage, in the way she moved.

"Good," she replied, glaring out over the city. "I was looking for a fight."

They tracked the military convoy, using it to find the Mayor, and together they engaged the Mayor and his men.

Sara proved that, wherever she'd been, whoever she'd been with, she was indeed rougher than she had been five years ago. She fought fiercely. Taking on multiple opponents at once, using her bo staff like it was merely an extension of her arm.

During the brawl, after a grenade exploded, knocking them both down, Oliver had no choice but to grab Sara's bo staff, using it just as easily as he did his bow, even as Sara used his bow and a stray arrow to back him up. He grinned as they eventually swapped weapons. But Sara demonstrated more of her training when she disarmed the Mayor, forcing him to his knees, using her bo staff to choke him.

"You hurt a friend of mine," she growled at the man and even though Oliver told her to let him go she didn't. She looked up at him and he saw in her eyes she wasn't about to obey his order.

"You can't save a city with forgiveness," she said calmly as the Mayor continued to choke, fighting to breath.

"You don't have to forgive him," Oliver growled back. "But you do have to let him live."

She did not look happy about it but she did release the Mayor enough to let him breath, though she kept hold of him. When the man called her a bitch, telling her she didn't have it in her, she huffed before using a quick blow from her bo staff to render him unconscious. Oliver let out a soft sigh of relief even as Sara gave him a small, barely there smile.

They parted ways once they'd secured the Mayor and his thugs but the next evening he saw her at the hospital where Sin was. He'd gone to take care of Sin's medical bills, for Sara's sake, and when he told Sara that she thanked him softly. Before she could disappear again he asked her what her plan was. She gave him a look that said she didn't know how to answer him.

"You're whipping over rooftops and keeping watch over your family like...like some kind of ghost," Oliver said softly and Sara gave a sad smile.

"We're both ghosts," she replied, voice just as sad as her eyes. "We died on that island."

"No, we didn't," he said firmly, refusing to believe that, refusing to let her continue to believe it. "We both _lived_. And I get that you have been in pain for so long that it probably just feels normal now but you can let it go and come home. I know that the earthquake brought you here but your family kept you here. You have to tell them, Sara. They need you."

"You told them I died on the Gambit. If they know the truth..."

Oliver let out a humourless chuckle. "They would never talk to me again," he said, knowing what she was getting at. "Not one of them. But it would be worth it."

He held his hand out to her and all but held his breath until she finally reached out and took it, giving him a soft smile as she gripped his hand. They'd both been broken by their years away from their homes, their families, but they had returned stronger. They could endure whatever came their way next.


	4. Chapter 4

Oliver took Sara back to the Queen Estate and, as they walked through the front door, he heard Robbie's laughter and heard her running around in the nearby sitting room. No doubt playing some game. He saw Sara's face suddenly light up as she realized what she was hearing and she looked at him.

"Is that Robbie?"

He smiled and nodded. "Come on," he said, still smiling. "I'll reintroduce you."

Sara followed him into the room and he chuckled when he saw Robbie was playing the dance game Thea and Roy had bought her shortly after they'd returned to Starling a few weeks ago. She laughed and spun, easily keeping pace with the game, before she spotted him and let out a delighted squeal, dropping the controller before launching herself up into his arms. He laughed as he hugged her close.

"Having fun, little bird?" He asked and Robbie nodded before her gaze darted to Sara. For a moment she had that child's look of _I know you_ before she looked, questioningly, back at Oliver. "Little bird, this is Sara. Do you remember her?"

Robbie blinked and looked at Sara, really looked at him, and she made a soft sound.

"I...I think I do..." Robbie said softly, tipping her head to one side. "I think I remember her and...and Dad...talking...maybe..."

Sara smiled and stepped a little closer.

"You were so tiny last time I saw you," she said, still smiling. "Just a baby. You got so tall. Like your daddy. But you're still awful pretty."

That, it seemed, along with Oliver's easy acceptance of Sara, was enough for Robbie because it didn't take long before she was tugging the blonde over to join in on her game. Oliver tried to play but he wasn't exactly coordinated enough for it and quickly retired to the couch to watch as Sara and Robbie played. After a while both girls joined him on the couch, some new Disney cartoon playing on the television, Robbie snuggled against him while Sara tucked herself up beside him.

It didn't take long before Robbie was sleeping and Sara was reflexively turning the volume down on the television.

"She really is beautiful, Ollie," she said with a smile. "Got your good looks."

Oliver chuckled softly. "Thank God for that," he said with a grin, rubbing a hand lightly over Robbie's back. "God only knows what we'd do if she looked like Mal..."

He bit his lip quickly, realizing his mistake, but Sara merely gave him a gentle look.

"I know," she eventually said, still giving him that gentle look. "About you and Malcolm. It was sort of all over the news. Especially after...well...you know."

Oliver nodded and hugged Robbie a little closer. "She doesn't know," he barely whispered the words, looking at his daughter. "About Malcolm being her...she can't ever know, Sara."

Sara gave a nod of her head. "I understand," she said and he could tell from her tone that she truly did understand. "Better she just keep thinking Slade's her father."

Oliver was somewhat surprised by that and it must have shown on his face because Sara smiled at him.

"Slade never killed hundreds of people," she said with a shrug, glancing at Robbie before reaching out and tucking the little girl's hair behind her ear. "Sometimes it's better to go with the lesser evil."

He couldn't help but smile at her choice of words, hand lifting without conscious thought and he rubbed at his shoulder, at the mark there. "That's one way of looking at it."

Sara studied him for a moment before shuffling a little closer.

"Has...Has anyone asked how you're handling...well...Malcolm being...gone? Have they asked if you're okay?"

"You think I'm not?"

"I think you want everyone to think you're okay," she replied softly, giving him a slight smile. "I think you want to believe it yourself. But...But I was there when you lost an Alpha, Ollie, remember? I saw what it did to you."

"This isn't like that."

"A broken Bond is still a broken Bond, Ollie."

Oliver grunted but said nothing and, after a few minutes Sara sighed, reaching over to run her fingers over the short stubble of Oliver's hair.

"It helps to talk," she said, sounding like she'd heard those words herself, once or twice.

Oliver nodded, knowing she was right, but he wasn't ready. Thankfully she seemed to understand that without him having to actually say the words. Instead she just moved a little closer, silently offering him comfort.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

It was late, well passed midnight, and Oliver was sitting up, aimlessly flicking through television channels, letting it settle on a replay of some basketball game as his mind began to wander, yet again, to the past, to memories that, really, were better left in the dark recesses of his mind.

_It was raining, not an uncommon occurrence on the island, but it made it damp and cold and Robbie, still being so little, was fussy because of it. She sniffled and sneezed and whined. Shado had mixed up some tea and Oliver had managed to get his little girl to drink some of it, hoping it helped keep her from getting sick, but Robbie still fused and refused to take her nap._

_Oliver kept walking the length of the plane, gently bouncing Robbie, trying to sooth her, and all the while she acted like an unhappy baby._

_"It's okay," he cooed as he rubbed a hand over her back, glancing at Shado for advice but the female Alpha merely shrugged, proving that she, like him, had little to no experience prior to Robbie with babies. "It's okay, sweetheart, daddy's right here. Daddy's right here and it's okay."_

_He kept walking until Slade, who'd been sharpening his swords, stood and caught his arm, stilling him, before taking Robbie from his arms. The girl whined and sniffled, staring up at him with big blue eyes that shone with her unshed tears. Slade rubbed his hand over the baby's back as he made his way over to sit by the fire where it was warm and bright._

_Oliver slumped to the floor next to Shado, watching with her as Slade rubbed Robbie's back, kissing her hair before he began humming softly. After a moment or two he began to sing. His voice was low and deep and brought a smile to Oliver's face even as Shado gave the male Alpha a gentle look as his singing soothed Robbie's grumpy mood._

Oliver was pulled back to the present when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs just outside the room. Turning his head he saw Sara approaching.

"Couldn't sleep?"

She chuckled faintly. "I don't do so well with my eyes closed."

He could relate to that.

"Thanks for letting me stay here," Sara continued as she tucked her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt. "I know you got a lot going on with your mom."

"Thea's mostly staying at her boyfriend's so...don't worry about anyone finding out you're back."

Sara smiled and nodded a bit. "Thanks for understanding."

"I don't understand," he admitted, knowing it was better if there was honesty between them. "Not a day goes by when your family doesn't miss you."

"Yeah," she replied, leaning against the doorframe, looking at him with those crystal blue eyes. "How do you know?"

"Because I missed you."

She smiled for a moment, clearly touched by his declartion, but she shook her head. "They won't be as happy to see me as you think."

"How can you say that? I know how hard it is to come home when you've been gone for so long."

Sara gave him one of those unreadable looks.

"I'm guessing my father and Laurel weren't too happy to see you."

Oliver chuckled and grinned. "No." He shook his head. "No, not at first."

"I always wondered if you and she ever got back together. Then I saw the news reports, the articles in some magazine about you and Malcolm."

Oliver sighed and gave a faint nod. "She and Tommy...they...they were making it work and...I was so happy for them." He smiled a tiny bit. "I think I always knew, deep down, that Laurel and I would never work."

"I've seen Omega pairings before."

"So have I but...Laurel and I...even if I had never Bonded...even if I had never been marooned...it wouldn't have worked. For so many reasons."

Sara nodded.

"I guess some things are just better left in the past."

She turned away and he watched as she walked away, slowly climbing back up the stairs to return to the guestroom he'd given her no doubt.

He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.


	5. Chapter 5

The following morning Oliver left Sara with Robbie, the two laughing and playing in the garden, while he went to meet Thea at Iron Heights so they could be present when Moira and her lawyer met with Adam Donner, the DA trying her case. Oliver, and the rest of the Queen family, was shocked when Donner walked in with Laurel, who was sitting as his co-council.

Donner came with a plea deal. Life with the possibility of parole.

Of course Moira's lawyer refused outright but after Donner hinted that he was digging through every bit of correspondence between her and Malcolm, searching for anything he could use to crush her defence of acting under duress, Moira told Donner she wanted a few days to think his offer over.

Oliver followed Donner and Laurel out in order to speak to Laurel.

The conversation went about as well as their last one.

Learning Laurel had been responsible for the plea deal infuriated a part of Oliver. It was the same sort of fury that had burned through him when he'd learned his Alpha was beyond the Undertaking. 

After seeing his mother again for a few minutes Oliver returned to the house, finding Sara in the entrance way, looking at the photographs dotting the little table there. He had to say her name, twice, before she blinked, clearly having been lost in a memory, before she actually focused on him.

"Are you okay," he asked as he walked towards her and, much like him, she deflected.

"How'd things go with your mother?"

"I ran into your sister," he admitted with a sigh. "She's working on the case."

"You didn't tell her..."

"No." He was quick to reassure her because, even though he didn't understand her need to keep her return a secret, he wouldn't break her trust in him by revealing the truth to her family. "I know a little something about keeping secrets. And respecting them...even though I don't totally understand why you're keeping yours."

Sara gave the faintest nod, slowly turning away from him, walking away a few steps and he immediately followed.

"It this..." He paused for a moment. "Is this because of what happened on the island?"

She let out a humourless chuckle as she turned to face him again. "No." She crossed her arms over her chest. "After. There were things that I did, things that I had to do to survive, things that there's no forgiveness for."

"Well that's the thing about forgiveness you can't get it until you ask for it."

Suddenly everything went to hell when a man burst through one of the windows on the landing above them. They both turned as said man leapt over the railing, landing easily, lightly, just a few feet away from them, a sword gripped in his hand. Oliver swore his heart leapt into his throat as he took in the man's appearance, the outfit he wore, and it felt like the world had suddenly ground to a horrific, screeching halt.

"Malcolm," he barely whispered the name, still unable to believe what he was seeing, but before he could try and rationalize what he was seeing the man attacked.

The fight was quick, but intense, the attacker well trained and skilled. Even with their combined efforts it proved a challenge but Oliver managed to stop the man before he could kill Sara, who had been knocked to the floor, and he drove the stranger to the floor several feet from Sara, tearing the man's hood off, not certain what, or rather who, he was expecting to find.

It wasn't Malcolm.

"Who are you," Oliver demanded, glaring at the man, his heart racing from more than the fight, from more than the adrenaline.

"Just a warrior," the man replied, calmly, sounding as though it was an answer he'd been trained to give but believed in none-the-less. "Like you."

"Why are you dressed like Malcolm Merlyn?" When the man didn't respond Oliver growled threateningly. "Who sent you?!"

The man said nothing, merely threw a dart into the chandelier, causing it to come crashing down, narrowly missing Sarah as she rolled out of the way. The distraction of it giving the man time to disappear. To escape.

After making certain Sara was alright Oliver collected Robbie from her room and the trio headed to the foundry, Oliver calling Diggle and Felicity on the way, telling them to meet them there. Once there Robbie darted off to mess about with one of the training dummies as Sara looked around, taking it all in, her gaze landing on the case holding Oliver's suit. She gave a half smile.

"I remember the first time I saw this hood," she said, though it seemed she was more thinking out loud than actually talking to him. "Shado was wearing it." She turned away from the case. "This is quite the set up you've got here. When you're launching your one man war for Starling."

"Not one man," Oliver replied as he turned, watching Felicity and Diggle enter the room. "These are my friends. This is John Diggle and Felicity Smoak. Guys, this...this is Sara."

Once the pleasantries were exchanged and Oliver explained what had happened with the attacker, including his not quite so accurate theory about the man being a follower of Malcolm, Sara finally broke and explained that the attacker hadn't been after Oliver. He'd been after her. Oliver stared at her in surprised as he asked who the man was.

"He's called Al-Owal. The First." She let out a soft sigh. "And he's a member of the League of Asassins."

"Wait, wait," Diggle said even as Oliver gave Sara a disbelieving look. "The League of Assassins? I thought they were a myth."

"What's the League of Assassins," Felicity asked as Oliver stepped away from Sara, trying to control his reaction to the news. "And please tell me it's not a league made up of assassins."

"It's an urban legend," Diggle explained. "I heard about them in Afghanistan from a tribal leader who claimed there was an ancient sect of assassins, deadly warriors who killed and vanished like ghosts. I thought he was smoking what he was selling."

"I tried to tell you, Ollie," Sara said as she looked at Oliver. "But you wouldn't listen."

"That's where you've been the passed four years. That's where you learned to fight." She nodded, confirming his words. "You're one of them."

"After the freighter," she said, drawing a deep breath, giving him another of those unreadable looks. "A member rescued me, took me in, and brought me to Nanda Parbat. They remade me into what I am and I swore them my allegiance."

"Why are they kicking down doors trying to find you now," Diggle asked the question Oliver couldn't seem to bring himself to voice.

"Because I left. And there's only one way that you leave the League."

Oliver frowned. "Is that why you didn't want to see your family?"

"A year ago I was in Guiana, I was sent there for a man, he was a local diplomat, and I slit his throat, in his bed and his kids they...they found his body in the morning. I'm a murderer, Ollie. You think that my family will be happy to see me?"

Before Oliver could answer, before he could even think of a way to answer her, his phone went off, a text from Thea, reminding him that he was supposed to be back at Iron Heights. Before he left he asked Felicity to track Al-Owal. He didn't miss the way Sara looked at him. He knew she didn't want him to get involved, would rather run then risk him or his friends and family, but Al-Owal had come into his home, had posed a threat not only to him and Sara but to Robbie who could have walked into the room during their fight. He would not let the man continue to run free about Starling.

Returning to the prison he learned that his mother was considering taking Donner's deal. Apparently Moira was tired of fighting. She wasn't confident she could win over a jury. And she wasn't certain she deserved to. Thea had been infuriated. She couldn't accept that their mother was just giving up. Thea had, being unable to handle what she was hearing, left. Oliver remained behind to talk to his mother for a moment longer, pointing out that he knew she was hiding something again. Something she refused to talk about.

The day wasn't a complete disaster since Felicity was able to trace the dirt sample he'd provided her back to an abandoned pesticide plant. Sara tried to talk him out of going, claiming it was her fight not his, but he pointed out that the League had made it his fight by coming into his home and threatening someone he cared about. Together they went to the plant, confronting Al-Owal and the two other assassins he had brought with him. The fight was fierce and, in the end, Oliver and Sara had no choice but to retreat. Before they did Al-Owal made it clear that if Sara would not return willingly she would stay to bury her family.

While Felicity went to warn Lance about the League Oliver pulled Sara aside.

"We need to talk about something," he said softly, not wanting to draw too much of Diggle's attention.

"About Merlyn."

He let out a soft sound and gave a small nod.

"Was...Was he a member of the League?"

Sara chewed her lip for a moment before she slowly nodded. "It was before my time," she explained, giving him a soft look. "Years before. He...He was the only man ever released from his oath."

"Why?"

Sara gave a shrug. "Compassion, maybe? Whispered rumours were all I ever heard about it."

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face and Sara reached up to cup his cheek.

"You need to talk to someone about what his loss is doing to you, Ollie."

"I'm fine."

She shook her head. "You're not. I've seen that look in your eye before, Ollie. This is slowly tearing you apart." She gave a sad smile. "If you don't let it out it'll destroy you. Just like Slade."

He flinched a bit at that reminder but knew she was right.

His problem was he just didn't know how to open up about it.

How to let it out without it destroying him in the process.


	6. Chapter 6

It seemed that, with a bit of time, Sara decided that the threat to her father, her family, was too much and did the only thing she could think of to protect him. She revealed she was alive. To show him the truth of who she was, what she was, she took him to the clock tower where she'd been hiding during her time back in Starling.

During all that Oliver, who'd taken Laurel to dinner and then back to her apartment, discovered a warning there, a League knife embedded in the wall. It was enough to prompt him to go to Sara, to help her and her father fight off the assassins who had tracked them to the clock tower. During the fight Lance killed one of the assassins and Sara managed to get hold of Al-Owal, using her bo staff against his neck to keep him immobile even as he taunted her, telling her she would never be granted freedom. Her reply was simple. There was only one freedom. And then she snapped his neck. When she grabbed the third assassin, Oliver thought she would kill him too, but she left him alive, giving him a message to carry to Ra's al Ghul, the leader of the League. After that, despite protests from both her father and Oliver, to protect her family and the people she cared about she left Starling.

Once she was gone Oliver returned to the foundry, had a drink with Diggle, before taking Robbie home. He sat in the garden, watching her run around, chasing fireflies, and he thought about what Sara had told him in regards to Malcolm. He knew he had to talk about it. About losing him. About how he felt like his insides, his soul, had been shredded by the loss of his Alpha. But as he just didn't know how to open up about that.

He was surprised when Thea suddenly sat down next to him.

He hadn't seen her since their last visit to the prison, when their mother had decided to not accept the plea deal, to take her case to trial.

"Hey," he said as he gave her a soft smile.

"Hey, yourself," she said as she looked at Robbie, still happily chasing fireflies, a smile gracing her face. "Sorry I haven't been around a lot lately."

He bumped his shoulder against hers. "You've been busy. With the club. With Roy. With Mom."

"Still should have made some sort of time to check on you," she said as she looked at him. "Mom...Mom mentioned you seemed to be holding it together really well considering...well..."

"My Alpha died?"

Thea gave a slight nod of her head and Oliver sighed as he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, fingers dancing lightly over mark. Malcolm's mark.

"Thea, look..."

"No, you look," she said firmly, sounding every bit the Alpha she was. "It's...It's just like when you first came home and you...you kept shutting me...shutting everybody...out. I told you then you had to let somebody in. And now...now I'm not just telling you, Ollie. I'm here, now, and you...you got to talk about this."

"Thea..."

She grabbed hold of his chin then, keeping him from looking away from her, her gaze fierce.

"Mom told me what it's like when a Bond breaks," she said with a slightly gentler expression. "She said she didn't understand how...how you're not always just curled up in a ball somewhere."

Oliver couldn't help but smile. "The reason is right over there," he said, nodding towards Robbie and Thea smiled as she looked at her niece but when her gaze turned back to him it was once again that fierce Alpha look.

"Ollie, you need to..."

"I can't, Thea," he said, cutting her off, thinking it was great that she was willing to listen, to be the shoulder for him to lean on, but he just wasn't ready. "I just...can't."

"Ollie..."

Before she could say anything else Robbie came racing over, laughing and throwing herself into Oliver's arms. He laughed and smiled as his little girl talked excitedly about the fireflies. The conversation Thea seemed so determined to have with him being shelved as Oliver hugged his daughter close, standing and carrying her inside to get her ready for bed.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Not long after Sara's departure Diggle approached Oliver about saving his ex-wife, Lyla, who had been hunting Floyd Lawton, from a Russian prison. Using his connections in the Bratva, and a cover of visiting Queen Consolidated's offices in Russian, Oliver managed to help Diggle break into the prison and get Lyla and Lawton out. Even though Diggle wanted revenge for Lawton killing his brother he let the man walk in exchange for the name of the person who'd hired him to kill Andy in the first place. H.I.V.E.

Over the next few weeks, as his mother's trial got underway Oliver tried to maintain a strong facade, for Moira and Thea's sakes, but it was difficult. He was constantly torn between his duties as a father, as a son, as the vigilante. Everything was starting to weigh on him to the point that he felt like he couldn't breath and, on top of all of that, the ache of Malcolm's death was starting to become too much for him to ignore. Too much to contain behind the will, the fight, to be strong for his daughter, for the city that needed him.

He pushed that feeling down, fighting to keep it locked away, as he sat next to his sister in the courtroom, listening to the opening statements, looking at his mother. She looked so calm. So at ease. Even as Adam Donner and Laurel were working so hard to get her convicted of murdering five-hundred-and-three people. His stomach rolled and he drew a deep breath through his nose, willing his body to calm, listening to the lawyers go back and forth, questioning evidence and motive.

During a recess Oliver got a call from Felicity about Diggle who had apparently collapsed. Tests Felicity had run showed that, somehow, the Alpha had been dosed with Vertigo. It seemed the Count was one of the prisoners who'd escaped Iron Heights during the Undertaking. He got Felicity to give Diggle the Vertigo antidote he'd worked up after his first run in with the Count before he returned to the courthouse. When Thea gave her testimony he felt the slim chance of his mother winning this trial go out the window. He knew it was what Donner had been planning on but when the man collapsed, sick like Diggle, Oliver knew that there were suddenly more important things he needed to be doing.

He spoke to his mother before returning to the foundry, her decision to testify still bouncing around in his head as he walked into the room. It turned out his cure hadn't worked, the Vertigo compound having been reworked, made stronger. Then came the video from the Count. Broadcasted to the entire city. Donner, abducted and forced into begging for Vertigo, the city held hostage to the whims of a lunatic. Felicity managed, after checking the video frame by frame, to discover a reflection in Donner's eye that led them to the old city archives building.

Oliver managed to free Donner but had been forced to retreat when the Count used human shields to prevent him from taking the lunatic down.

While Felicity continued to try and track the Count's movements, trying to figure out how he'd dosed so many people, Oliver was back at the courthouse, listening to his mother's testimony, listening as Laurel ripped Moira's defence of duress apart by revealing that Moira and Malcolm had, years ago, had an affair. While the jury deliberated Oliver and Thea waited in the hallway, Oliver pacing, endlessly, as Thea sat on a bench, looking more frightened than he'd ever seen her before. Oliver had just started to take a step towards his sister when Laurel came around the corner.

When he took a step towards her instead she made a low sound, shook her head and tried to flee, but he caught up with her, managing to catch her and tell her that he didn't blame her for what she'd done in the courtroom. She told him that she couldn't believe that. That no one could possibly forgive what she'd done. As she hurried off Oliver let out a deep sigh, turning back and walked over to stand near Thea. When their mother's attorney appeared and explained the jury could have a verdict soon. Oliver wasn't stupid. He knew a verdict so soon was not good news. They were told to prepare for the worst and as Laurel walked away Oliver's phone buzzed.

Felicity.

Thinking his friend had made some headway with locating the Count he excused himself and took a few steps down the hallway, not wanting Thea to overhear.

"Felicity?"

"Oliver?" The voice was definitely not Felicity's voice. It had him stilling instantly and he felt his blood turn to ice as things lined up in his mind. The Count had Felicity's phone. Had Felicity. "Is it okay if I call you Oliver? Surprised to hear from me, right? Not as surprised as I was. 

You see I find this...not unattractive blonde getting all up in my business and what does she have on her? A Queen Consolidated ID badge. Now, I think to myself, why does that name ring a bell? Oliver Queen. He tried to buy off me last year, just before the Hood put me in a padded cell, _Ipso facto_ Arrow."

Oliver immediately disconnected the call and started to leave, needing to get to Felicity, to save her from the madman currently holding her, only to stop when Thea demanded to know where they were going. Oliver quickly made up an excuse about something happening at the office that he had to deal with. Thea was obviously not thrilled, stating that the jury could be back any minute, but Oliver told her he had no choice and had to go.

When he confronted the Count in his office at Queen Consolidated, Oliver knew he only had one real option. The Count was dangerous. Both to people in general and to Oliver because he knew the truth. Even before the Beta had grabbed Felicity and tried to use her as a human shield, the syringe of Vertigo poised to strike, he knew that the only way this was ending was with the Count dead. And it did. The man went crashing through a window with three arrows in him. Falling to the distant street below.

Felicity assured him she'd handle the police when they showed up, that she'd work up a cover story, before urging him to get back to the courthouse. He did as she said.

He reached the courthouse just in time, Thea demanding to know where he'd went, but before he could fully explain or even attempt to explain, Laurel appeared and told them the jury was back. The verdict was not what he'd been prepared to hear. 

Acquitted of all charges.

Oliver and Thea, though surprised by the verdict, were ecstatic and went home, to wait for Moira who would be released later that day, both wanting to make sure things were ready for her when she got home.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Moira had never been so thrilled to leave a building.

Especially since she was free.

Climbing into the car waiting for her she smiled as she thought about finally getting home, getting to be with her family again. After months in a prison cell just being out in the world again was, for her, phenomenal. When the driver informed her that he had been instructed not to take her home right away she felt her heart leap into her throat. Fearing for her safety, for her life, and as the car came to a stop in a remote, and empty, parking lot she thought of her children, how they'd be waiting for her and how she might never see them again.

She climbed, slowly, from the car when the driver opened the door, wary of the man and whatever he planned to do or for who he might be working for.

"Where are we," she asked, watching him as he closed the car door. "I don't know this place."

The driver faced her but was looking passed her shoulder. "I've got her, sir," he said, giving a slight nod of his head and, as Moira watched, an arrow flew passed her, slamming into the man's chest. Killing him.

She let out a frightened cry, whirling around as the driver collapsed to the ground, finding the impossible standing just a few feet away.

"You...You're supposed to..."

"Hello, Moira."

Malcolm lowered his bow and Moira's fear increased along with her shock.

"You...You're...They said you were dead," Moira all but whimpered, terrified Malcolm was about to add her to his list of victims.

"There are parts of the world were death is an illusion," he said simply. "I've been to one. I learned to be very convincing. But I returned because you needed my help."

Moira let out a low sound and shook her head.

"Help?"

He really thought he was helping her?

"With your trial. You didn't think that jury acquitted you without a little persuasion."

Moira bit her lip and turned away, unable to believe what was happening, when she looked back at Malcolm she was ready to beg for him to spare her. To spare her family.

"What do you want, Malcolm?"

"I still have resources in Starling," he said as he slowly approached. "Associates. Including one in the DA's office. I followed Mr Donner's investigation of you with interest. The ease with which you lied about our relationship for years."

"Like you lied about Bonding with my son?" Moira snarled, suddenly feeling braver than she had moments ago. "About getting him pregnant? Forcing him to live, and raise his baby, in hell for five years?"

Malcolm's expression flickered for a moment, some of the calm disappearing, before he masked his features. "My relationship with Oliver is...complicated. Much as ours was. Especially given that you lied to me for years."

"No," Moira said shaking her head, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "No."

"It was just a matter of a simple genetics test, no doubt like the one you ran on Robbie when Oliver refused to talk about her Alpha father, to confirm my suspicions," Malcolm's look turned slightly cold and Moira shook her head, wishing she could deny what he was about to say. "Imagine my surprise to learn that I don't just have one child in Starling but two. Imagine my joy to learn that Thea is _my_ daughter."

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Moira managed to hide how shaken she was when she finally got home, smiling and hugging Oliver and Thea and laughing happily as she picked Robbie up, craddling her granddaughter close, kissing her curls and thanking God that the precious little girl looked more like Oliver than Malcolm.

Once she was finally alone in her room, left to rest and relax in the comfort of her own personal space, she seemed to collapse into the nearest chair, hands covering her mouth as she thought about Malcolm. Part of her screamed that she had to tell someone, had to tell Oliver, the man was alive. But she feared what his retaliation would be. She didn't think he'd risk hurting Oliver or Thea but what if he abducted them? Or Robbie? What if his punishment meant never seeing her children or grandchild again?

She kept thinking back to what Malcolm had told her when she'd brought up Oliver's issues with the Bond. Some sort of inhibitor that blocked the Bond in such a way that, combined with Oliver's belief that the Alpha was dead, made it feel as though the Bond had been broken. She knew she should tell Oliver the truth. Should warn him that his Alpha was still alive, still posed a threat to him and Robbie, but she feared if she did tell him that Oliver would take Robbie and disappear.

Either way she would lose them both.

Drawing a deep breath she knew her only option was to remain silent about Malcolm being alive and see what exactly he was planning to do now.


	7. Chapter 7

In the weeks following Moira's released things went a little crazy for Oliver.

An industrial centrifuge had been stolen from Queen Consolidated by a man with strength far exceeding that of any normal person. It sent clear warning bells off in Oliver's mind. But he couldn't explain to anyone why. It was also when a Central City forensic investigator was brought it to investigate the break in and theft. Barry Allen, a young, somewhat charming Beta, who seemed to just easily accept and believe that only one person, one person with super strength had stolen the centrifuge. Felicity was immediately taken with Barry, who seemed to share her interest. The two examined the evidence and found sucrose and Felicity determined that a delivery truck, which was used in the theft of the centrifuge, was stolen from a local sugar factory days earlier.

After a break in at a blood bank, using the same truck, Oliver went after it but despite their best efforts, and Oliver's attempt to knock the man out, the incredibly strong Alpha got away after slamming Oliver into the passenger door of the truck, breaking the hinges and sending both it and Oliver skittering down the street. He sat there for a long, stunned moment, holding a broken arrow covered in blood while looking both confused and slightly afraid.

He returned to the foundry and, after getting Felicity to help him tape his ribs, he admitted to Diggle that the man had been right about him knowing more than he was letting on. He admitted about seeing someone with abilities like the thief's before.

"You have?" Felicity sounded both surprised and horrified. "Where?"

Oliver sighed and looked at his friends.

"The island." He pushed down the memories that his declaration stirred. "My second year marooned there we...I came across the remains of a Japanese World War II military project. It was a serum designed to create human weapons."

Diggle made a low, disbelieving sound. "Human weapons? My God, what's next? Aliens?"

"This is real." Oliver knew how crazy it sounded. But he also knew how real it was. How dangerous. "Those five years that I was away I came across things that just...defy explanation."

Diggle was still looking at him with disbelief and Oliver sighed.

"There was a doctor, name of Ivo, came to the island to test the serum on people. The ones who survived their endurance, reflexes and strength were all enhanced."

"Do you think this Ivo is in Starling City?" Diggle asked, looking concerned that they had to deal with another madman who might just make the Count look like an amateur.

"He's dead," Oliver said firmly. "And so is everyone that he injected with the serum. The last of which I burned."

"You think someone found the recipe." Diggle didn't make it a question but Oliver nodded.

"The centrifuge and a large supply of blood. I think someone wants to make more of it. A lot more. But there's a third component. A strong sedative."

Oliver held the broken arrow out to Felicity. The arrow with the mystery Alpha's blood. "I need you to analyse the blood. If we can figure out which sedative they're using..."

"We can figure out where the next robbery will be," Diggle finished, seeing where Oliver's line of thought was going.

Felicity, still looking a tad grossed out, nodded. "Barry and I will get right on it."

Diggle waited until Felicity was out of earshot before he spoke. "I think our Miss Smoak is smitten."

Oliver made a soft sound. "Diggle what did you find out about Mr Allen?"

"He's not who he says he is."

The next morning Oliver found Felicity and Barry at Queen Consolidated and he knew he had no choice but to confront the young Beta with what he knew. It had forced Barry to reveal to Felicity the truth about his mother's murder. About how his father was serving a life sentence for the crime and how Barry didn't believe the man was responsible. That no one had believed him when he'd told them that something came into the house, like a tornado, a blur, but with a person at its center, and that that person killed his mother. That he'd tried to stop that person but somehow he'd ended up twenty blocks from the house. Everyone thought he'd been trying to protect his father.

Oliver had seen the belief, the honesty, in Barry's eyes and knew that _something_ had happened. Something that Barry couldn't fully explain but it had happened. Oliver knew what that was like. Yet despite his belief in the younger man Oliver knew he couldn't openly admit it. He knew he'd done the wrong thing, confronting the Beta in front of Felicity, because when Barry left he could see it in her eyes. He tried to smooth things over with her but she just brushed him off. Calmly, yet coldly, reminding him that Barry wasn't the only liar in the room.

Later that evening, at the party for his mother, Oliver managed to patch things up with Felicity by having Barry arrive there for her.

After the party when Felicity unexpectedly called him and Oliver hurried to the foundry. She explained that she and Barry had found trace amounts of ketamine in the thief's blood. Given what they'd learned from the blood sample there was only one possible location with a large enough quantity of the sedative that correlated with the amount of blood stolen. It was a building that looked like it had been abandoned for months or years but was, in actuality, an A.R.G.U.S. disaster bunker on the edge of the Glades.

Despite both Diggle and Felicity expressing concern about him going after the thief he started to leave, delayed by the fact that Roy had left the little red arrow in the wall behind the club. A sign that he had information for the vigilante. He meet Roy, only to find out that someone Roy knew had been used as a test subject for the serum and that Roy was trying to find answers. He tried to convince Roy to leave it alone but Roy refused, saying he could do things by himself, and Oliver knew he had had no choice. 

He had to protect Thea's chosen Omega even if it meant protecting the kid from himself. He put an arrow through Roy's thigh. Not a fatal wound or one that would cripple. It would just keep the younger Omega out of harms way for a while. Hopefully long enough for Oliver for to deal with the thief and whoever was trying to recreate the Mirakuru.

Reaching the A.R.G.U.S. bunker he felt a trickle of fear and doubt crawl up his spine. Part of him knew he should have listened to his friends but he truly believed he could do this. He'd faced down one enhanced man before and won. He could do it again.

He soon found himself wishing he had listened.

The beating was excruciating, worse than anything he had ever experienced, even on the island, and when he finally crashed into a box of medical supplies his only thoughts were that he really, really should have listened to his friends. He started to move but immediately felt sluggish and his vision blurred sharply. Looking down he found two medical syringes protruding from his left leg.

It was the last thing he saw before his world went black.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Moira was in one of the sitting rooms, pouring herself a glass of scotch, thinking that, after Malcolm's last threatening visit, she should take the chance of telling Oliver that his Alpha was alive. She heard footsteps and caught a familiar scent, sighing softly as she set the bottle of scotch down. "And I thought it couldn't hurt to add extra security guards."

Malcolm huffed.

"It hurt them," the Alpha rumbled before tossing the guards' guns to the floor. "Badly."

His gaze was still hard and she wasn't surprised if she'd prepared Thea to hear the truth about who her father was. It had, after all, been the intent of his last visit after all.

"No." Her voice was firm. "You will not go near Thea or Oliver or Robbie. You will not speak to them and you will never set foot in this house again."

"I set you free, Moira," Malcolm growled, enraged that she would dare tell him to stay away from what was left of his family. His daughters and his mate. "Your life belongs to me."

Moira turned to face him, no longer afraid of him, not like she had been. He was still dangerous, yes, but she had a trump card now. One he would never have seen coming.

"I am through being afraid of you," she said confidently, never breaking eye contact with him.

Malcolm chuckled. "You think you can stop me? Even the vigilante couldn't kill me."

"No, he couldn't," Moira agreed calmly. "But I know someone who can."

Malcolm's expression told her that he doubted her words and she smiled a tiny bit.

"Ra's al Ghul." 

A flicker of fear, true fear, danced through Malcolm's eyes and Moira knew she had the Alpha then.

"How do you know that name?"

"Well I didn't," she admitted as she walked towards Malcolm. "Until you mentioned Nanda Parbat. The League of Assassins, however twisted their aims, believes very deeply in a code of honour. Your Undertaking betrayed that code."

"You told Ra's I'm still alive?"

"He was so grateful to hear it." Moira felt smug, powerful, with the knowledge that she know had Malcolm afraid of her. "Because he so very much wants to kill you himself." She smiled a bit even as Malcolm gave her a cold look. "So my advice to you, Malcolm, run."

Malcolm smiled at her, no doubt trying to convince her that he wasn't afraid, that he wasn't doing just what she'd suggested and running, as he turned and slowly walked away. "This isn't finished," he threw over his shoulder and, despite her trump card of the League and Ra's, Moira knew very well that he was right.

It wasn't finished.

Until Malcolm was truly dead her family would never truly be safe.

She just prayed that, if Oliver discovered the truth, her son would forgive her for keeping it from him.


	8. Chapter 8

Oliver drifted in and out of consciousness as his team, with Barry's help, fought to save his life. At one point, as the world around him began fading out again, he heard an impossible voice.

"Let go, Oliver."

He turned his head, seeing Shado standing a few feet behind Diggle, her dark eyes fixed on him, sorrow etched on her face.

"Don't fight anymore," she said softly, extending a hand towards him, like she used to on the island when things were tough and she knew he needed her comfort. "Stay with me."

He weakly extended his hand towards her, part of him wanting to stay with her, to go, to just let go of the pain that he was in. As the world faded away from him he saw her frown, saw the tears in her dark eyes, and tried to call her name. Tried to stay with her like she wanted.

Hours later, after Oliver had woken up, after he'd had his minor meltdown over Felicity telling Barry his secret. During said meltdown both Felicity and Barry put him in his place verbally, he tried to get control of his raging emotions even as he got a text from his mother, asking him to come home. Reaching the house he was surprised to find Moira decorating a tree, even more surprised when she asked him to check on Thea who had locked herself up in her room and refused to let anyone in or to come out.

Checking on his sister he learned she and Sin were hiding the injured Roy in her room. He helped take the arrow of the younger Omega's leg, acting all unhappy big brother about the situation even though he was somewhat impressed with the trio. He called Diggle and asked him to come to the house to help patch up Roy, though he didn't like the way the Alpha snarked about the whole _shot with an arrow_ issue.

He left the trio to wait for Diggle, thinking to go check on Robbie while he was home before heading back for the foundry to see if Barry and Felicity found anything, when he saw a woman walk around the corner in front of him he was confused and immediately followed after her. "Mom?" He called out as he stepped around the corner, finding the hallway empty save for a brightly lit Christmas tree at the end of the hall. "Hello?"

_"Nǐ hǎo wǒ de àirén."_

The Mandarin, spoken in a voice he'd not heard in almost four years, had his heart pounding against his rib, the world slowing down, as he turned around, finding himself staring at the impossible.

"Shado?"

He walked towards her, still not believing what he was seeing. She was smiling at him and when he reached up, cupping her cheek, which was warm and very much there, she leaned into his touch. It wasn't possible. He knew that. And yet, as he stared at Shado, as the old bite on his chest began to tingle for the first time in years, he wished, deeply, that it was possible. That what he was seeing was real.

"You can't be here," he said, though he wasn't sure why, and as a sad look crossed her face he felt like the world was being yanked out from under his feet.

"I had to see you." The sadness never left her eyes and he felt then as he had the last time he had seen her. Guilty and responsible. "Had to warn you."

"Warn me?"

"You can't fight what's coming. Put down your bow. Take off my father's hood."

"I wear that hood to honour your father," he replied sharply. "To honour you."

"If you want to honour me then stop fighting and _live_. Or everyone you love will die."

Before Oliver could ask what she meant a voice sounded from behind him.

"Daddy?"

He whirled around, finding Robbie standing there, looking up at him with a confused expression.

"Who are you talking to?"

He looked back around, finding the hallway empty, Shado, who'd never really been there, gone like the ghost she was. He'd know Shado hadn't really been there. But for a moment it had been so easy to forget. To pretend that she was real. He drew a stuttering breath and turned back around to face Robbie. "No one, little bird," he said as he walked over and scooped her up into his arms. "No one."

Robbie's expression said she didn't believe him but she didn't say anything, just wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him as he carried her down the hallway.

After spending some time with his daughter, reassuring her that everything was alright, Oliver returned to the foundry, thankful that Barry was still there. He asked about the reactions to the rat poison he might potentially have and Barry told him there was hallucinations and excessive sweating. The young Beta tried to cover for him, no doubt realizing he was asking because he was having hallucinations, asking if he was sweating excessively but Felicity, sharp as a tack, had caught it all and demanded to know if he was and what was he seeing.

Oliver explained about Shado, ignoring Felicity quip about Fantasy Island, and Barry drew some of his blood for analysis.

As Barry babbled about masks being better for concealing Oliver's identity than grease paint Felicity suddenly piped up, stating she'd found Cyrus Gold, who turned out to be the Mirakuru enhanced Alpha who'd left Oliver for dead. Felicity gave Gold's , based on visual recognition, and Diggle and Oliver went to do recon. Or rather, Diggle was doing the recon, Oliver went as his backup. Oliver waited in the car while Diggle went to Gold's apartment, which, as it turned out, was not the wisest move since Gold showed up and nearly broke Diggle's wrist before he managed to get out through a window and down the fire escape.

He had to drop Diggle back at the foundry and suit up before he went to meet Lance to hand over the information they'd found on Gold. While talking to Lance he hallucinated again, seeing yet another impossible figure on another part of the roof, it rattled him enough that he knew he couldn't risk trying to help Lance take Gold down. He would be a liability. Especially if he hallucinated while fighting Gold or trying to cover the other police officers.

He returned to the foundry where, thankfully, Felicity and Barry both agreed to give him some time alone. Once they were gone he walked to the table holding the crate he'd brought back with him from Lian Yu. He moved a few things aside and lifted out a small, fireproof box. Unlocking it he opened it and, from its few contents, took out an old, slightly tattered, photograph. A photograph had been taken with a camera Shado had found in the ruins of Fyers' camp and it was one of the few good things that he'd kept from the island.

He sighed and looked at the smiling faces in the picture.

He was standing in the middle, arms wrapped around Shado and Slade, who stood to either side of him, Robbie held in Slade's arms.

He smiled sadly, refusing to imagine what could have been, what life he might have had if things hadn't gone to hell that second year on the island. Sighing softly he tucked the photo back into the little box, locked it and returned it to the crate. He picked up an arrow and his quiver as well as a tennis ball, tossing the ball high, over the hanging light fixtures, and, quick as a heartbeat, nocked his arrow, eye never losing sight of the ball, and loosed the arrow.

He watched, stunned, as the arrow was suddenly snatched from the air by a man who, like Shado, couldn't really be there. Oliver slowly lowered his bow, heart crawling up into his throat, and he watched as the man straightened, looking at him with brown eyes so dark they were nearly black.

"What's the matter, kid? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Slade smirked at him, that cocky smirk that, years ago, had made Oliver's heart stutter, and despite trying to remind himself that this wasn't real, that it was another hallucination, like Shado, he once again found himself half wishing it was real.

"You're not real."

Oliver wasn't sure why he was saying it. He knew Slade wasn't real. It was just his mind playing tricks on him. He watched as Slade, still holding the arrow, walked across the room, looking at the case holding Oliver's hood. Shado's hood. The Alpha huffed out a breath and gave a faint nod.

"Neither are you," he rumbled, still looking at the hood. "You told everyone when you started this crusade that it was about making up for your father's sins." That dark gaze swung to him then and Oliver swore the old bite mark on his shoulder throbbed with pain. "That was a lie."

Slade snapped the arrow he held in half as though it were a twig.

"This charade is to atone for your sins."

Oliver blinked, tried not to let the words of someone, something, that wasn't ever real effect him but it was hard. Especially when Slade looked and sounded so very real.

Oliver made a low sound and tried, again, to remind himself that this wasn't real. "You're dead."

"You are not a hero," Slade replied, giving him one of those cold, cruel looks that the Alpha had only ever worn in their final days together. "Or a friend. Or a brother. You are nothing."

Oliver felt sick to hear the words, to be reminded of his sins, his betrayals, and he turned away, hoping to block out the hallucination but it didn't work because Slade snarled viciously.

"Do _not_ turn your back on me! _Not again!_ "

Oliver shook his head, refusing to turn back around.

"You're gone."

"Wherever I am," Slade said in a tone Oliver had only heard rarely from the Alpha. A tone that had always caused Oliver's heart to skip with something close to desire. "It's time you joined me."

Before Oliver knew what was happening he was fighting to defend himself. Each strike felt too real to be a hallucination. Felt too real to just be in his head. As he straightened from being tossed across the room he glared at Slade, feeling tears prickling his eyes.

"They say a coward dies a thousand deaths," Slade rumbled, moving like a predator tracking its prey. Looking at him like he was something he'd scrapped from the bottom of his boot. "But even that wouldn't be enough for you."

"I tried to save you!" His shout echoed through the air and he panted lightly. "And her." 

"But you couldn't," the Alpha retorted, shaking his head. "Just like you couldn't save this city."

Oliver, angered by Slade's words, attacked. But it wasn't enough. Slade easily disarmed him, striking him with enough strength that he went crashing over a table, the contents of it sent scattering even as he went crashing to the floor. Slade overturned the table as he followed after Oliver, no where near done with him, and Oliver groaned in pain as Slade yanked him to his feet, holding him closer, one hand cupping the back of his head, the other gripping his shoulder.

It would have seemed intimate if not for the rage, the animosity, which seemed to exude from Slade like a living, breathing creature.

"The island didn't make you strong, kid," Slade growled in Oliver's ear and the Omega let out a soft sound of pain and guilt. "It revealed you to be weak."

Slade threw him then through the case holding his hood and as the glass shattered, raining down around him, Oliver landed with a grunt of pain. He looked up, expected Slade to still be there, to try and finish the job. But, just like with Shado, Slade was gone.

Because, he reminded himself. Slade had never really been there.

It was just a hallucination.

Gasping for breath, heart pounding against his ribs, he looked around, feeling more lost and confused than he had in a long time. The mark on his shoulder ached, burning like it had when the Bond it had once represented had been forced on him, and he closed his eyes and hung his head for a moment before climbing to his feet to clean up the mess.

He was sweeping up glass when Felicity and Barry returned, Diggle having arrived moments before them. Felicity quickly asked what had happened, if someone had broken in, and Oliver sighed and shook his head. Before she could ask anything else Barry reported that the blood analysis was done and that Oliver was perfectly fine. It was not an answer Oliver was happy to hear. Barry's statement about the problem being psychological did not help matters.

And then things took another downward spiral when Felicity, having checked her computers, informed him that the police raid on Cyrus Gold had gone wrong. That Lance was the only survivor. Oliver immediately suited up and went to the hospital to speak to Lance. 

Lance, though battered and grieving over the death of his friend and former partner, gave Oliver a key that he'd managed to take off of Gold during a struggle. Lance surprised him by all but asking him to kill Gold. And, if it had been any other criminal Oliver wouldn't even have considered it. But he knew what Gold was capable of. He knew that people would be hurt, would die, if he didn't stop Gold. So it wasn't really a hard choice. Even with his new code.

Cyrus Gold was going to die.

One way or another.


	9. Chapter 9

Returning to the foundry he had Felicity trace the key Lance had given him while he sharpened a new set of arrows, hoping that, if he made them sharper, it might be easier to take Gold down. He wasn't surprised when Diggle approached him, the Alpha's posture telling him that he was concerned and they were going to talk whether Oliver wanted to or not.

"Do you think I'm losing my mind," he asked his friend and Diggle gave him a considering look before answering.

"No more than the rest of us," the Alpha said as he stepped closer so Felicity and Barry wouldn't over hear them. Oliver sighed and glanced away briefly.

"I saw..." He paused, remembering the second hallucination, remembering how it had felt. "Slade Wilson. Slade was my friend, on the island, and...like Shado he is dead because of me." Oliver tried to ignore the sharp pang of pain and guilt those words stirred in him. "Lance just told me that not every death in this city is my fault, fine, there are plenty that are."

"When I got home from Afghanistan," Diggle spoke in that calm way of his that just demanded a person listen simply because it sounded like he had all the answers. "I...I saw ghosts too. Survivor's guilt. _Why us and not them_."

"I know why," Oliver said perhaps a little more hotly than he meant and it was the look on Diggle's face that calmed him again.

"Then why isn't the problem," Diggle replied, still sounding so calm, so understanding. "

"How'd you make your ghosts go away?"

"I figured out what they were trying to tell me."

"Which was?"

Diggle gave a slight shake of his head. "That's for me to hear, Oliver. You have to figure out what yours are trying to tell you."

Moments later Felicity got a hit on the key and a location for it. Due to Oliver's state she didn't want him to go but Oliver reminded her that he it was his duty, his responsibility, to protect the city. He didn't have a choice. It didn't help ease the tension in the air but it was enough for Felicity to back down on the subject.

Reaching the location he wasn't certain what he would find, but he was not prepared for it to be Roy, strapped to a chair, injected with the serum.

The man in the skull mask was also unexpected.

Oliver demanded answers and the man in the skull mask informed him that the serum had been a gift. A way to save the city. When Gold charged at him Oliver loosed an arrow, as ineffective as it was, before engaging the man in close combat. He knew it was a mistake when he was tossed into a wall and then kicked across the floor. Oliver, though in unbelievable pain, looked up, saw the blood on Roy's face, streaking from the young man's eyes, heard the man in the skull mask say something about another failure and he slumped back to the floor. He knew what that meant.

Roy was dead. Thea's boyfriend, her Omega, was dead.

"Get up, Oliver."

He blinked and looked up at his third impossible thing. And yet, this time, he accepted it. Diggle had said to listen to his ghosts, to hear what they were trying to tell him. So he was going to listen.

Tommy was standing there, looking down at him, eyes reflecting the words his friend had just spoken. _Get up._ Tommy slowly crouched down, still looking at him, that determined look that said Tommy needed him to listen. To really listen.

"Tommy..."

"You're not going to die down here," his friend said, sounding confident, sure.

"Tommy, I'm sorry. I...I let you die."

"You didn't let me die, Ollie, you fought to save me." Tommy gave him a faint smile. The sort he remembered from their youth together. The one that said _I'm here for you, I'll always be here for you_. "Because that's what you do, what you have always done, you fight to survive. I know I called you a murderer but you are not. You _are a hero_. You beat the island. You beat my father. So fight, Oliver. Get up and _fight back_."

Oliver felt a surge of something, the will to survive that had saved him, time and time again on Lian Yu, pulse through him even as he heard the man in the skull mask order Gold to kill him. He made a low sound as he leapt up. Meeting Gold head on. He wasn't sure if it had been the pep talk from the ghost of Tommy or if maybe he'd just needed to remind himself what he was fighting for but whatever it was worked. He beat Gold back, knocking the man into the centrifuge and, between one heartbeat and the next he had nocked an arrow and loosed it, causing the centrifuge to explode. Killing Gold when the resulting explosion brought the ceiling down on the Alpha.

During the chaos the man in the mask had slipped away but Oliver could have cared less. He rushed to Roy, who had been knocked to the floor in the blast, cutting the younger Omega from the chair he was strapped to. Oliver carefully manoeuvred the kid onto his back before starting chest compressions, hoping to revive the young man. 

"Come on, Roy," he said as he stared at that blood streaked face. He couldn't lose Roy. For Thea's sake he couldn't. "Come on, Roy!" When there was no reaction to the chest compressions Oliver snarled, grabbing Roy's face between both hands. "I am not leaving anyone else to die! You're strong kid!" He started chest compressions again which yielded the same results as before. "Come on! Fight! Fight!"

Roy suddenly drew a stuttering gasp and Oliver felt relief wash over him as Roy began breathing again. He managed to get Roy out of the building and back to the Queen Estate without too much fuss, tucking him up in Thea's room without being seen before returning to the foundry. 

Felicity greeted him with a hug, glad that he was okay, that he hadn't gotten himself killed. He told his friends, his team, about Roy being injected with the serum and they all agreed they'd need to keep an eye on the younger Omega for the foreseeable future. He also explained about the man in the skull mask and how whoever it was had been trying to mass produce the serum to create an army. When he noticed Barry was no where to be seen Felicity explained that he'd gone back to Central City, wanting to get back in time to see the STAR Labs particle accelerator turn on but that he'd left a gift for Oliver.

The gift, as it turned out, was the mask that Barry had been talking about.


	10. Chapter 10

Over the next few weeks Oliver hunted for the man in the skull mask, needed to get him off the streets before more people like Cyrus Gold started turning up. 

Between hunting for the man in the skull mask and trying to an eye on Roy, for the darker signs of the Mirakuru, Oliver ended up dealing with Mark Scheffer, a serial bomber who attempted to kill people at a rally hosted by Sebastian Blood, who was running for mayor. It was shortly after that that he approached Sebastian, as the vigilante, and the pair agreed to work together for the greater good of Starling City and its people.

It wasn't long after that that Laurel reached out to the vigilante. Despite what had happened the last time he met with her, though he was extra cautious, not wanting to fall into another SWAT team trap. He was surprised to learn that she was reaching out because she needed his help investigating Sebastian Blood, whom she suspected wasn't the shining son of Starling that everyone believed him to be. She gave a compelling case, compelling enough that he helped her retrieve a file from the city archives, which turned out to be useless since someone had replaced it some time ago.

Unfortunately, because of her digging into Sebastian, Laurel became a target for the man in the skull mask. She was abducted and a message left for the Arrow, telling him where to find her. He ended up fighting the man in the mask and just as it seemed the man had gotten the upper hand Laurel managed to shoot and kill him. Removing the mask did not reveal Sebastian Blood as Laurel had hoped but Officer Daily, a cop that Oliver had seen at a few crime scenes. Despite all the evidence condemning Daily, Laurel lost her job due to her erratic behavior and obvious substance abuse.

Oliver wanted to help her but he had no idea how and, after the last few times he'd approached her in concern, she'd shut him out. Hard.

In the end his attention was pulled from Laurel to Roy when Thea told him that her boyfriend had put a man in the hospital, that Roy had just seemingly gone nuts and nearly beat the guy to death. Oliver, dressed in his gear, approached Roy and offered to teach him to control himself. Despite agreeing to the training, Roy was not an easy person to work with and there were several times when Oliver wondered if he had frustrated Slade and Shado as much as Roy frustrated him.

During this training period news came through to them that Ben Turner, better known as Bronze Tiger, had escaped from Iron Heights. The man had been broken out specifically to deal with the Arrow while the crew he was working with stole the prototype earthquake machine from the Merlyn house. Unfortunately Roy's temper, and his nearly beating a man to death, again, allowed Turner and the crew to get away with the device but Felicity managed to find the ship that the prototype was going to be leaving Starling on and Oliver went to stop the man who was attempting to ship it Markovia only to have the man surprise him by activating the machine. He tried to use exploding arrows to open the container the machine was in but it was military grade and his arrows were useless. 

Thankfully Roy had followed along, unfortunately the kid's rage had blinded him, and he was beating Turner senseless and nothing the vigilante, the Arrow, said seemed to get through so Oliver had had no choice but to reveal his true identity to the Omega. Together they managed to destroy the machine. Telling Roy the truth about who he really was earned him a new level of respect from the kid and Oliver was glad for it. He introduced Roy to the team, to Diggle and Felicity, showing him the foundry, officially making him a member of the team.

During the time dealing with Turner and the earthquake device Oliver also had to use tough love on Laurel. Cutting her off at the bar, putting her in a cab, sending her home, had been the right thing to do. Just like calling Sara had been the right thing to do. He knew Sara couldn't stay in the city, not with the League still after her, but he was hoping she might at least be able to help Laurel in some small way.

That was also about the time when Moira announced she was going to run for mayor.

Oliver, of course, was more than willing to support her. Understanding she was doing it as both a way to redeem herself and do something good for the city.

He was in a meeting at Queen Consolidated, discussing his mother's run for mayor, when he got a call from Lance about Laurel. He rushed to Starling General, and as he entered the room he was greeted by the sight of Laurel with her parents. Laurel's mother approached him, hugging him, thanking him for coming. Laurel was surprisingly calm, though Oliver could see the anger in her eyes, in the way she was sitting. That anger exploded outwards when her father said something about rehab.

When a nurse said that they'd be releasing Laurel once the doctor checked her eye, which bore flecks of gold, a sign of something, more than just hitting her head when she'd blacked out. Oliver wondered what exactly had happened to his friend. He excused himself and quickly left the hospital, heading back to foundry, finding Sara training on the salmon ladder. As he walked closer Felicity made a soft comment about how Sara had been doing the ladder for nearly an hour. He drew a deep breath as Sara noticed him and dropped down to the ground.

"You saw Laurel," she said as she approached him, looking hopeful, grabbing a towel as she made her way over to him. "Is she going to be okay?"

"You saved her life."

She smiled a tiny bit. "Hey, thanks for calling me. And I...I never did ask you, how did you find me?"

"I wasn't going to lose you again."

Sara chuckled softly and gave a faint nod of understanding. "I should get going," she said as she stepped around him. It felt like a brush off and he didn't like it.

"That's it?" He turned to follow her, Felicity and Diggle wisely moved to the other side of the room, unable to believe this was what she was doing. "You're back in town for twenty-four hours and you're just going to take off again?"

"The League is still after me, Ollie. And staying in town would put my entire family in danger." She paused, looking him in the eye for a moment before grabbing her shirt and pulling it own. "I only came back because Laurel's in trouble."

"Well she's still in trouble, Sara," he retorted, unable to believe she was just going to take off again. "Your entire family needs you." She didn't look like she believed him and he let out a soft sigh. "And so do I."

Sara paused for a moment, and he thought she might agree to stay, but in the end she shook her head and he knew she was going to disappear again. He turned away and asked Felicity to dig up a copy of Laurel's blood report, that he just wanted to be sure of something, and suddenly the phone used for Lance started buzzing. Felicity handed it over.

The former detective demanded to speak with Sara and, despite her hesitance, she spoke with him. As she ended the call, having agreed to meet her father, she looked at Oliver. "I'm leaving after I see him," she said as she handed the phone back. "I...I can't stay, Ollie. I can't put you all in danger."

Oliver sighed, not liking that she was doing this, but gave a nod. He couldn't force her to stay. Not when they both knew it wasn't safe for her to do so. He watched her leave and rubbed a hand over his face. Concern for Sara's safety, as well as her father's, Oliver suited up and discretely followed her, though he suspected she knew he was tailing her. She was a trained assassin after all.

He kept to the shadows, watching the diner where Sara and Lance were, waiting for any sign of danger as Sara came walking from the diner. At first it seemed like everything was fine, until a long strand of silky material dropped down from the overpass above, a hooded figure using it as a repel line to the ground.

He was surprised when the person, the League member, pushed their hood back, revealing a woman with dark hair, approaching Sara at a calm and even pace. Oliver saw the knife the woman held and he tensed. He was ready to jump to Sara's defense only to be surprised when the woman reached out, taking hold of Sara and pulling her into a kiss.

Oliver slowly slipped from the shadows, watching as the two women stepped apart, exchanging words softly, too softly for him to hear, and he took the moment to approach. When the League member turned, clearly not surprised by his presence, Oliver made certain his face, what little could be seen, was completely unreadable. The woman took a few steps forward and Oliver took the moment to regard her. She was an archer. No doubt trained by the same man who had trained Malcolm. Her dark eyes studied him for a moment, searching for something only she understood.

"I am Nyssa," she said, the confidence and authority in her voice spoke of a woman who was accustomed to being in command. Even with the smells of the street around them Oliver could easily make out her scent. Especially since she did little to hide it. Omega. Though it much stronger and much more powerful than he would have expected. "Daughter of Ra's al Ghul. Heir to the Demon."

He hadn't expected that. The child of the leader of the League come to fetch Sara.

"What are you doing here?"

"Sara swore her allegiance to the League of Assassins. It's time for her to return home."

"That," he growled faintly, not wanting to engage this woman in a fight but ready for it none the less. "Is not going to happen."

He saw the anger in Nyssa's eyes, saw the way she started to tense, the way an archer would before reaching for an arrow, but Sara moved suddenly, saying woman's name in a pleading tone, asking her for a moment with Oliver. Nyssa agreed though she gave a small barb about goodbyes and Sara not giving her one. The female Omega moved away a few paces and Sara turned to Oliver.

"I can explain..."

"You don't have to," he said softly. "But you're not leaving. I don't trust her."

"Then trust me."

He said nothing as Sara stepped around him and left with Nyssa.


	11. Chapter 11

Things with Nyssa being in Starling did not go well.

Nyssa, after Sara refused to return with her, abducted Sara's mother, Dinah, to use the woman to draw Sara out. Though Sara met with the woman, the woman she loved, it became clear she had no intention of returning to the League because she took the same poison, Tibetan Pit Viper venom, that one of Nyssa's men had used to poison Laurel. Oliver had barely managed to get there in time to save her. But her act of selflessness, her willingness to die for her family, for those she loved, had prompted Nyssa, who still deeply loved Sara, to release her from her vow to the League.

Sara's return had been well received by her parents but not by Laurel who, it seemed, blamed Sara for everything that had ever happened to her.

During the fiasco of dealing with Nyssa and her fellow assassins Oliver, who'd been supporting his mother's campaign for mayor, learned, from Felicity, who had been looking into Tempest, something Moira had paid a rather large amount of money into that had then been used to pay off the doctor who'd delivered Thea, that Robert Queen was not Thea's biological father.

Oliver, learning that seconds before he had to give a speech, introducing his mother as a candidate for mayor, barely made it through that speech. His mind racing with the new knowledge. His Alpha, his mate, was the father of his sister. His daughter and sister were, technically, siblings on top of being aunt and niece. It took a while for him to wrap his mind around it but once he had he did the only thing he could do.

He went to confront his mother with what he knew.

He found her at home, in the den, watching a clip of her press conference announcing her bid for mayor. When she noticed him she immediately turned off the television, turning to face him.

"I know we need to talk," she said, clearly aware that he knew the secret she was trying so desperately to hide, but he shook his head, refusing to let her talk her way out of this.

"You need to listen."

She seemed surprised by the ice, the steel, in his tone. He'd never, not even when pleading with her to help stop the Undertaking, spoken to her like that.

"For the past year," he continued as he stepped a little closer to her but keeping some distance between them. "I have stood by your side, I have fought because I wanted to believe that you weren't this...monster...and I needed to believe I still had a mother."

Moira looked extremely hurt by his words and started towards him, saying he did, but he shook his head and held his hand up as he stepped back, causing her to fall still again.

"Oliver, I only lied about Thea to protect her from Malcolm."

"Like you tried to protect me when you learned he and I were Bonded?" He shook his head. "No. You lied because that is what you do. And that is who you are, Mom. Lies. And now you've made a liar out of me because Thea can never find out about Malcolm. And she...she can never know the truth about us."

Moira gave him a confused look and Oliver wished he didn't have to do this. That his mother's lies hadn't pushed him to this.

"Which is," he continued, giving her another cold look. "As of right now we have no relationship." Moira's expression went to hurt and pleading but before she could say anything he pressed on. "I will keep up appearances for Thea's sake and publicly I will support your campaign. But privately...you and I...we're done."

"Oliver," Moira reached for him again but he stepped back, refusing to let her touch him, refusing to be drawn back into her web of lies. He was done with it. He turned and left, ignoring when she called after him, trying to get him to stop, to talk to her, he just kept walking. Leaving the house without another word.

He ended up wandering the city and, before he knew it, he was at Malcolm's house.

He didn't think too much about what that meant as he carefully snuck inside.

The place was so quiet but he ignored that as he made his way from room to room, eventually entering the master bedroom. Malcolm's room. He hadn't been here since the last time he and Malcolm had been intimate. Walking around the room he saw a couple of framed photographs on the dresser. Picking one up he smiled when he saw it was a family photo. Malcolm, Rebecca and Tommy. It had to have been taken shortly before Rebecca's death because Tommy didn't look any older than seven or eight. 

He looked at Malcolm's smiling face and tried to ignore the ache in his chest. Like a knife twisting.

Setting the photo down he picked up another one, somewhat surprised by it, and he felt tears burn at his eyes. It was of Malcolm, him and Robbie. He remembered Malcolm taking it the day he'd picked Robbie up from school for fighting, the day he'd thought he and Malcolm might work out. The day he'd thought he might have a real future with his mate.

Those dreams, like so many others, had died before they could ever truly begin.

He carefully set the photo back down and turned away. He slowly made his way over to the bed and, before he could stop himself, he crawled into the bed, face buried in a pillow and he caught Malcolm's scent and out of instinct he inhaled deeply, drawing as much of Malcolm's scent into his lungs as he could ever as he squeezed his eyes shut. He felt tears leaking from the corners of his eyes as his emotions decided to play roller coaster. He choked back his sob even as he curled up in a ball, wrapping his arms around the pillow as he began to shake.

After a few minutes he couldn't fight back the sobs. That ache in his chest blooming into that deep pit of agonizing despair that he remembered from losing Shado. He laid there for what seemed like a long time, sobbing, twisting in that agony, trying to bottle it all back up so he could carry on. It took time, a lot longer than he'd expected, but he did eventually get a handle on things again.

Rubbing the tears from his eyes he sat up, sitting there, staring into the darkness, putting all his emotions, his pain, over the loss of his Alpha back into the darkest, deepest, corner of his mind. When he finally stood he felt, only slightly, like he could carry on. He started to leave but paused. Looking back at the photographs on the dresser. There was no one to claim any of them. No one left to take any of the belongings Malcolm had kept. Things would be boxed up, thrown out or auctioned off.

It seemed wrong to Oliver.

Without much thought he found an old backpack and gathered the photographs he had looked at, along with a few photo albums from a shelf in the closet, packing them into the bag. The only things he wanted were the photos, the memories, of the past. Things from before Malcolm's descent into darkness. He might never tell his daughter who Malcolm had truly been, to him and to her, but if he did, or if she learned the truth, he wanted to have something to show her when he talked about his Alpha.

He slipped from the house as easily, stealthily, as he'd entered.

He went to the foundry, not the Queen Estate, and locked the photographs and albums he'd taken in the same crate he kept his most secret belongings from his past in.

He then sat in the nearest chair and rubbed his hands over his face as he wondered just how much more complicated his life could possibly get.

Not long after Nyssa and her men left, after his confrontation with Moira, a man named William Tockman, also known as the Clock King, began causing problems in Starling. Tockman was a thief suffering from McGregor's Syndrome, had turned up in Starling. His plan was to steal enough money to use it to help his sister who had cystic fibrosis. He'd ended up shooting Felicity when she'd managed to track him down. Thankfully it hadn't been a serious injury and she'd been able to help Sara take Tockman down, even joking that'd she'd finally have a scar like everyone else.

Fortunately, after the Tockman business, Laurel approached Sara and the two had managed to repair the damage done to their relationship. Laurel also surprised everyone by attending an alcoholic's anonymous meeting with her father. Showing everyone who cared about her that she wanted help. That she wanted to get better.

Oliver was relieved, and happy, that his friend was finally getting the help she needed.

He knew it was never easy admitting when you needed help.

He also knew, with the ache that was continuously growing in his chest, that he needed to talk to someone about his own problem. He waited until Sin left the club, having been there to speak to Sara, who apparently regarded the younger woman as a little sister, and then he approached his friend.

"You were right," he said as he stepped into the stock room where she was.

She looked up at him and gave a small smile. "Usually am," she chuckled, leaning back in her seat. "Want to be a little more specific?"

"About...About how I need to...talk...about this thing with...with Malcolm."

Sara sat up a little straighter. "Are you sure? You seemed...pretty adamant about not talking about it or him."

Oliver drew a deep breath as he crossed the room to sit next to her.

"When I think about...about him I feel like there's this...knife...in my chest and that if I talk about it...it'll be like taking that knife out and I'll...I'll die." He ran a hand through his hair. "But...But not talking about it...not being honest about it...it's...it's killing me."

"Then talk," Sara said, rubbing her hand over his shoulder. "However much you want. You talk and I'll listen. No judgment. No guilt trip. Just...Just two old friends having a conversation, yeah?"

Oliver nodded and drew yet another deep breath, hands shaking slightly, that ache in his chest growing like a canyon and it took him a few minutes but he did eventually find the will, the courage, to talk about his Alpha. About what the loss of the man was doing to him. And true to her words Sara didn't say anything. 

She just sat there and listened as he talked about how, before he knew who Malcolm truly was, he'd foreseen them having some sort of life together and how Malcolm's betrayal had hurt far worse than anything else. Including losing Shado and Slade. She listened as he ranted about Malcolm's Undertaking and how his Alpha had refused to even consider stopping for him. For their daughter. 

She listened as he talked about how he'd had no choice but to kill Malcolm. That he was responsible, once again, for the death of his Alpha. He admitted that the only thing that truly kept him going was his daughter. Knowing how much she needed him. And when he talked about the ache, the pain, he was constantly in from losing Malcolm, when he started crying, feeling like he would never stop, Sara just wrapped her arms around him and held him, letting him get all those terrible, wretched thoughts and feelings out.

By the time he stopped speaking he was shaking and sobbing and clinging to her.

Sara ran her fingers over Oliver's hair and pressed a soft kiss to his temple, rubbing her other hand over his back. "It's okay, Ollie," she whispered in his ear. "It's okay. Just let it out. Let it all out."

"I shouldn't...shouldn't miss him..." Oliver shook his head. "He...He betrayed me...betrayed everything and...and I..."

Sara kissed his temple again.

"Whatever else he was, Ollie, he was still your Alpha. It's okay to miss him."

Oliver let out a huff of breath. "It shouldn't be."

Sara gave a soft chuckle. "Yeah, well, that's not how it works. Miss him, Ollie, and mourn him. And...And move on as best you can." She kissed his cheek. "The only thing that's going to heal this wound is time."

Oliver lifted his head, rubbing the tears from his face, giving her a soft smile.

"When did you get so wise?"

Sara smiled and chuckled lightly. "The League taught me a lot more than just how to fight."

Oliver couldn't help but grin but his amusement slipped away when his cell phone beeped, alerting him to a text message and a quick check revealed it was from Thea, demanding he get home immediately, that it was an emergency, and his heart leapt into his throat at the thought of something having happened to his daughter. He hurried off, Sara completely understanding, promising to let her know what had happened as soon as he could.


	12. Chapter 12

Robbie sat on the stairs, glaring towards the den where she'd been, happily reading, up until about half an hour ago when her grandmother had ushered her out of the room. She'd been so caught up in trying to argue, trying to stay on the couch where she'd been, that she'd forgotten her book and, despite her desire to keep reading, her grandmother refused to let her back into the room to simple collect said book.

Apparently her grandmother's meeting, with some man who was donating a bunch of money so she could keep trying to be mayor of the city, was more important.

Robbie didn't see it that way but trying to say as much had earned her the sort of look her grandmother usually only used on her Daddy.

So, banished as it were, Robbie had taken to sulking on the stairs after her second attempt to retrieve her book. Her grandmother making it more than clear that if there was a third attempt some sort of punishment would be enacted. And though Robbie doubted her grandmother would actually do anything to her she suspected the woman would tell her Daddy and he would do something.

Huffing softly Robbie drummed her fingers against the step she sitting on, mind turning this way and that, searching from some way of getting into and out of the den without being seen. She wasn't as stealthy as her Daddy or Sara and she wasn't tall enough yet to be bold about things like Aunt Thea or Roy. So she really didn't have much in the way of options. 

She grumbled under her breath about stupid grandmothers when a maid walked by, barely sparing her a glance, and Robbie watched, curiously, as the maid stopped at the doorway of the den.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Mrs Queen," the woman said, plastering on a fake smile like her Daddy sometimes did. "But Mr Steele is on the phone for you. He said it was important."

Robbie shifted a bit on the stairs and, when she heard the click of her grandmother's heels, heard her excuse herself from her meeting, she darted down the stairs and ducked behind one of the heavy curtains covering the hallway window, peeking around it and watching as Moira walked out of the den and down the hallway to wherever the phone was. Knowing it was likely her only chance to retrieve her book she wasted no time in slipping from her hiding place and all but running to the den.

She stilled for a moment in the doorway, eyes darting to the man sitting on the couch, back to her, before she looked hurriedly around, searching for her book. It took a moment or two longer than she'd have liked but she did find the book. Unfortunately her grandmother had moved it and it now sat on one of the shelves of the bookcase in the corner of the room. A shelf she wasn't entirely certain she could reach.

Glancing over her shoulder to make certain her grandmother wasn't coming back she hurriedly crossed the room, not caring about the man who was waiting for her grandmother, and looked up at the shelf.

She frowned.

She might be able to reach it.

Standing on the tips of her toes she stretched her arm up as far as she could and struggled to get her fingers on the book. If she could just get a grip of it and pull it towards her she could get it down. She knew she could. She let out a little sound of frustration when she couldn't quite get it. Wobbling slightly, her balance faltering, she dropped back down onto her feet properly and glared up at the shelf as she debated what to do. There wasn't a chair nearby that she could use to get up higher nor could she afford to linger much longer or else she risked getting into trouble for not doing what her grandmother had told her.

Drawing a deep breath, which she released in a frustrated sigh, she glanced at the man on the couch before walking over as quickly, yet calmly, as she could.

"Excuse me, mister," she said politely, remembering her Daddy told her to always be polite when she had to ask for things. "Could...Could you help me get my book, please?"

The man looked at her, a slight smile gracing his face, and her first thought was _He looks like a pirate_ , which seemed a perfectly reasonable thought to her given that he had a patch over his eye, but the more important thought was her second one. The one of _I know him_.

"I think I can certainly help with that," he answered her, voice deep and rumbling like thunder, lilting a bit with his accent, like Walter's but different somehow. She murmured a thank you, or thought she did, as the man stood and went to the shelf, collecting her book before returning with it. He handed it to her before he sat back down and, again, she thought she thanked him but she kept looking at his face. She was certain she knew him or had seen him before and, before she could stop herself, she was speaking.

"I know you."

She sounded confident, so certain of her words, and the man's smile grew a bit.

"Do you?"

She leaned a little closer and really looked at his face.

Something in her mind, in her heart, was telling her that she knew him and it made her nod. "It's all fuzzy," she said as a tiny frown graced her face, all fear of getting in trouble with her grandmother forgotten as she struggled to remember who this man was and why she knew him. "But I know I know you."

The man leaned forward slightly, still smiling, his dark eye fixed on her face.

"Let me give you a hint," he said and Robbie nodded eagerly which had him chuckling before he started softly singing.

_"Hey, little Kookaburra_   
_Sitting in a tree_   
_Won't you come and_   
_Sing a little song to me_

_Sing o' the forests_   
_Sing o' the sea_   
_Hey, little Kookaburra_   
_Sing for me"_

His voice was deep and rumbling and she knew it. She heard it in her dreams and in her memories, the really fuzzy ones from when she'd been really little. Memories from when she and her Daddy had lived on the island. And then, just like that, everything slotted into place and she made a soft sound, staring at the man with wide eyes.

"Dad?"

She barely whispered the word, barely able to believe it, she'd hoped and wished for so long but wasn't quite ready to believe what she was seeing.

The man gave the faintest of nods.

"I've missed you, little bird."

Her book fell from her hands, clattering noisily on the floor, as she launched herself at him, clinging to him even as he hugged her tightly. His scent, familiar and stirring memories she didn't know she had, washed over her and she let out a whimpering sound which had him holding her tighter.

"It's alright, little bird," he cooed, rubbing a hand over her back and she pressed closer to him, hiding her face in his shoulder. "I'm here. I'm here now."

Suddenly, from somewhere beyond the den, Robbie heard her Daddy's voice shouting for Thea.


	13. Chapter 13

Oliver returned home and quickly discovered that Thea's text had been a ruse and that his sister had sensed the tension between him and their mother and this was her was trying to force them to talk. Unfortunately before he could leave or go to find his daughter Moira insisted on introducing him to a contributor for her campaign. And, even though he wanted to refuse, he had promised to support her campaign and he followed her into the den.

He just wasn't prepared for what was waiting for him.

His mother introduced the man as Slade Wilson and, though Oliver's heart tried to crawl into his throat, he thought perhaps it was a coincidence. Someone with the same name. But when the man stood, turning, Robbie held in his arms, Oliver's heart plummeted into his stomach.

It _was_ Slade. 

And, even though the Alpha wore an eye patch now, had silver streaking the hair at his temples, it was like the last four years disappeared. Like they were back on the _Amazo_.

"It's a pleasure, Mr Queen," Slade said, his voice just as Oliver remembered, and that dark gaze swung to Robbie. "And this sweet little bird must be yours."

Robbie grinned and giggled, looking at Oliver as though to say _Look, Daddy! Look who's here!_ and he wanted nothing more than to rip his baby girl out of Slade's arms, to distance the two before Slade did anything that would hurt her. But he restrained himself. Knowing doing that would cause a scene. A scene he couldn't control.

"Roberta," Moira spoke unexpectedly, giving Robbie a reproachful look. "I thought I told you to stay out of here."

Robbie glanced at her grandmother but Slade chuckled and smiled.

"It's quite alright, Moira," the Alpha said, nuzzling at Robbie hair, making her giggle. "She's a sweetheart." He looked back at Oliver. "You're a lucky man, Mr Queen."

Oliver clenched his hands and fought down the urge to snarl.

When Moira mentioned that Slade had brought rum from Australian, asking him to share a drink with her and the Alpha, the Alpha she had no idea was someone Oliver knew well, someone Oliver had once cared about. He should have said no, should have come up with some excuse to take Robbie and leave, but that would just leave Moira alone with Slade, leaving her at risk. So he agreed to the drink. Moira tried, like a responsible adult, to suggest that Robbie leave the room but Slade gave her a gentle smile.

"I think she's fine, Moira," he said as he held her with one arm, taking his glass with the other, and Oliver ground his teeth. "Aren't you, little bird?"

Robbie nodded and Oliver didn't fail to notice the subtle shift of Moira's features. His mother had noticed Slade's use of a nickname that she'd only ever heard Oliver use. He knew she was likely trying to figure out if it was a coincidence or not and was thankful for the alcohol then. He downed most of his glass in a single go as they all made their way over to the couches. He sat on one while Slade and his mother sat on the other, Slade continuing to hold Robbie and play the charming guest.

Oliver's grip on his glass tightened to the point where his knuckles turned white as Slade and Moira talked. It wasn't until his mother asked if Slade had ever been married or Bonded or if he had any children of his own that he saw a hint of Slade's carefully build façade slip.

"Sadly my son doesn't talk to me," Slade replied as he rubbed his hand over Robbie's back. "His mother was a Beta so we weren't Bonded or married."

Moira gave him a soft smile. "Well, there must be someone special in your life."

"There was," Slade said as he looked, however briefly, at Oliver. "But it didn't work out. One passed away and the other...well...as I said, in the end, things just didn't work out."

"I'm sorry," Moira said and Oliver's grip tightened around his glass, the urge to throw it growing strong even as his left shoulder suddenly felt like it was on fire. He swore he could feel the bite mark there throb.

"I've had to deal with loss, recently," Oliver said as an image of Malcolm danced through his mind. He saw Robbie give him a soft look. "I know how difficult it can be."

Slade gave a nod. "Yes, I recall seeing in the papers and a few news channels about Malcolm Merlyn. The two of you were Bonded, yes?"

Oliver gave a shaky nod. "Yes."

"Terrible thing," Slade said, giving Oliver an unreadable look. "What he did. All those people who died. I can't imagine it was easy for you. That sort of betrayal. The broken Bond."

Oliver swore his eye twitched.

"It's been difficult."

"Losing someone you love, especially when they've turned on you, must be almost as terrible as the Bond breaking."

Oliver knew what Slade was hinting at and he could have risen to the bait, could have drug up their past, right then and there, but he looked at Robbie, who believed Slade was her father, who loved him, who had heard only good and honourable things about the man even though he'd put Oliver through hell and he just couldn't do it. He couldn't ruin the image Robbie had of the man who had been there for them when they had truly needed someone.

He glanced away from the Alpha and let out a low huff of breath. "You're wrong," he said softly, looking back at Slade, ignoring the somewhat surprised look on Moira's face. "It's worse. The pain from the Bond fades eventually. The pain of the betrayal...that doesn't seem to ever go away."

Slade seemed somewhat surprised by his declaration but then the Alpha nodded.

"Betrayals are never easy to accept. Or forgive. No matter the reason for them."

Their gazes locked and again Oliver fought down the urge to throw his glass. He was somewhat surprised, and confused, when Slade eventually turned the conversation to the artwork dotted about the room, complimenting it and Moira's taste in art. It had Moira chuckling and admitting that the art had been mostly collected by her first Alpha. When the tour of the house so Slade could see the entire collection was suggested Oliver thought he would crush the glass his grip tightened so much. He tried to argue against it but it seemed his rudeness pushed Moira into doing it anyway. She slipped from the room to get the staff to open the rest of the house and Oliver glared at the Alpha still holding his daughter, all but slamming his glass onto the little table between the couches.

"What," he growled faintly. "Are you doing?"

Robbie blinked, confused by his tone, by the way he was looking at Slade, but Slade chuckled lightly.

"I'm visiting, of course," the Alpha said simply before pressing a kiss to Robbie's curls. "I missed my little bird."

Robbie practically beamed and Oliver pushed down his growl.

"Slade..."

Before he could say anything else Thea's voice sounded from just beyond the room.

"Mom? Ollie?"

Oliver stood quickly as Thea appeared in the doorway. "Hey, Ollie, have you and Mom talked because this whole not speaking thing..."

"This is not a good time," Oliver replied and, of course, Thea's gaze darted to Slade, who had stood, still holding Robbie.

"Who's your friend," she asked and Slade smiled as he stepped forward, holding Robbie with one arm while extending the other.

"Slade Wilson," he said, still giving that charming smile as he shook Thea's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard wonderful things from your mother."

Thea chuckled but again her gaze went to the way Slade was holding Robbie, who seemed completely at ease with the man, a strange thing since with most strangers Robbie was extremely distant. Before she could say anything or question what was going on Moira returned and started to introduce her to Slade, not commenting when Oliver all but snapped that the two had met, before roping her daughter into giving the tour of the art collection.

Oliver's only thought was _I cannot catch a break_ and he immediately followed the others from the room, discretely calling Felicity, praying she was still at the foundry and that Sara was with her. Sara would recognize Slade's voice and would formulate some sort of plan to help him because, at that moment, he had no idea how he was going to prevent Slade from harming, or killing, his entire family.

Thankfully his plan worked out because, just as the little tour was wrapping up, Roy showed up, via the front door, using the excuse of visiting Thea as his cover and Sara, who had to have snuck in through an open window upstairs, came walking gracefully down the stairs. He knew all it would have taken was a nod, some subtle acknowledgement, and his friends, his teammates, would help him take Slade down.

But Slade was still holding Robbie, was still far too close to his mother and sister, and he knew he couldn't risk it.

Thankfully, despite the dark way the Alpha looked at Sara, Slade seemed to realize his situation and violence wasn't necessary. The Alpha gave slowly handed Robbie to Oliver, stepping much closer to him than was actually necessary, the look on his face one that had Oliver rumbling faintly, just barely audible and, when Slade went to leave Oliver immediately handed Robbie to Sara, saying something about walking Slade to his car.

Oliver waited until they were all of five steps from the front door before he growled.

"What the hell are you doing here, Slade?"

Slade grinned. "I told you, I missed my little bird."

Oliver's hands curled into fists at his side as they slowly made their way to Slade's car. A flashy Lamborghini. It didn't seem to fit with the man he remembered.

"Cyrus Gold, the man in the skull mask, all of it was you," Oliver said, trying to remain calm, trying to keep from doing anything rash. He knew Diggle was out there, with a sniper rifle, waiting for just the right moment to take a shot. To take Slade down. "They worked for you."

Slade chuckled. "I have my allies just as you have yours." They reached the car and Slade glanced at Oliver. "John Diggle for example."

Oliver growled faintly at the mention of his friend but Slade didn't seem bothered by the sound as he continued speaking.

"I suppose you're wondering why he hasn't taken his head shot."

Slade slowly turned to fully face Oliver, who let out another growl and took a slight step towards the Alpha. "Slade..."

"Don't worry, kid," Slade said with a faint rumble. "He's still alive. I saw no reason for him to die. But that can easily change."

Oliver's frown deepened. "I won't let you hurt my friends."

Slade regarded him for a moment before giving a slight smirk.

"What makes you think you can stop me?"

Oliver growled threateningly and stepped towards Slade again.

It was a mistake.

Slade's hand shot out, lightning quick, grabbing hold of the front of his shirt before he was swung around, pressed back into the side of the Lamborghini. Slade easily, effortlessly, holding him there. Oliver started to growl again but Slade's hand curled around the back of his neck, fingers digging in hard, a warning. Even if Slade didn't have the Mirakuru coursing through his veins the gesture would have caused Oliver to fall still and silent. An Omega's instinctive reaction. 

Oliver hated it.

Hated that, despite everything that had happened between them, all the pain and anger and hate, he still responded like that.

"I said things can easily change, kid," the Alpha rumbled, managing to glare even with only one eye. "You keep playing things this way and I won't hesitate to see each and every member of your team butchered. Slowly. In front of you if need be."

Oliver started to growl at the threat to his team, his friends, but Slade gave his neck a squeeze, fingers tight over Malcolm's mark and he couldn't help but squirm even as his growl seemed to seize up in his throat. He wanted to pull away, to get Slade's touch away from a mark that wasn't his to touch, but he couldn't. He couldn't seem to fight his response to the Alpha's touch.

"You didn't come here just because of my daughter," Oliver managed to bite the words out, glaring at Slade. "Not after everything you've done. What your goons have done."

Slade huffed. A slight grin twisting his lips upwards a bit.

"You're right," the Alpha rumbled, fixing Oliver with an unreadable look. "I've come to keep my promise. Do you remember it, kid? Do you remember what I swore on that cursed freighter?"

A tremor rolled through Oliver's body and his eyes widened slightly.

Surely Slade didn't mean...

Oliver's gaze immediately narrowed and, despite Slade's grip, he growled again.

"If you think I'm just going to let you kill anyone I care about you are insa..."

Oliver's words turned into a sharp cry as Slade used his punishing grip to wrench his head to the side, coat and shirt suddenly yanked out of the way and the Alpha's teeth sinking into the Bond mark on his shoulder. The flare of pain, hot as fire, seared through Oliver and reminded him of the day Slade had first forged that Bond. Along with the bite Oliver felt something, some wall or block, shatter and faintly realized that, what he'd once thought to be a broken Bond between him and Slade had actually been the Alpha blocking the Bond in nearly the same way he'd blocked the Bond he'd shared with Malcolm.

He felt a surge of things all at once.

The Bond with Slade flaring back to life as though it had never been gone.

It made Oliver's head swim and his heart pound so hard against his ribs he thought it might burst from his chest.

As Slade lifted his head Oliver felt blood trickling from the now open bite and he heard the Alpha rumbled deeply, darkly.

"You'll remember who you belong to, kid," Slade growled darkly as he pulled Oliver away from the car, turning them so he was by the driver's door before releasing Oliver, who stumbling back, hand flying up to cover the bleeding Bond mark.

Slade opened the car door and slid in behind the wheel. The door shut firmly behind him and almost immediately the window rolled down, Slade looking at him with yet another unreadable expression. "I keep my promises, kid. Always."

Oliver stood there and watched Slade drive off, watched the Lamborghini's taillights disappear before he went in search of Diggle. He had to make certain his friend was really alright. Then he had to figure out how he was going to deal with Slade.

Because he knew that Slade hadn't been exaggerating when the Alpha had claimed he'd keep his promise.

And that was one promise Oliver would sooner see broken than fulfilled.


	14. Chapter 14

The aftermath that followed Slade's visit was difficult to control.

Robbie, if Oliver was honest with himself, was the hardest part of if.

She'd demanded to know why Oliver had said Slade had died and Oliver had answered her honestly. He'd thought Slade had. Everything he'd seen had indicated Slade had died on the _Amazo_. Robbie had cried and shouted, beating at his chest when he tried to hold her. She called him a liar and nearly made herself sick she was so worked up. When she eventually calmed back down she hiccupped and hid her face in his shoulder while she whimpered, tears soaking through his shirt and she whispered softly that she was sorry, that she didn't mean to call him a liar, that she loved him.

He'd just hugged her closer and kissed her hair. Telling her he knew and understood.

He knew his words were little comfort to his daughter and he tried to take more time for her but there was never a shortage of things for him to do. As a father. As a CEO. And as the Arrow. And he wasn't the only one fighting to keep things from falling apart.

Diggle ended up doing a favour for Amanda Waller, the head of A.R.G.U.S., and that meant his working with an A.R.G.U.S. special task force codenamed Suicide Squad as their missions often had little chance of survival. Oliver hadn't ask his friend too many questions when Diggle got back from wherever the hell Waller had sent the team but Diggle had mentioned something about Floyd Lawton being a member of the team and that he'd seen a new side to the former assassin.

During that whirlwind Oliver had put some of his contacts to use and tried to track down Slade so that he could deal with the man before he could continue with whatever crazy plan he'd concocted. He tracked an account number to an office building only to find a dead man with an arrow, one of Oliver's arrows, through his eye and a projector playing a home movie of Shado, from sometime before her time on the island, on one of the office walls. It was enough to twist the knife in Oliver's heart and he'd had to fight down the memories, the guilt in order to keep searching for the Alpha threatening everything he'd built since returning home.

Then there had been the Bertinelli issue. 

When Frank Bertinelli had resurfaced it had drawn, predictably, Helena back to Starling City and she returned with force. Her desire to seek vengeance against her father had blinded her to what had been a setup by the Starling Police Department. Helena had holed up in the courthouse, unfortunately trapping Laurel, who'd been tricked into working the case, inside, which had driven Sara into protective mode. And, though the former assassin could have killed Helena, she showed mercy because of her sister. Helena had been arrested but not before she saw her father, killed in the shootout, and at the police station she had admitted to Oliver that he'd been right. Her father's death did not make her feel any better. Despite everything that had happened between them, despite everything Helena had done, he reassured her that he would always be there for her. He would help her however he could.

Returning to the foundry he found Felicity and Robbie sitting at the computer station, Felicity saying something about DNA and its importance.

"We're tracking DNA now," he asked, somewhat confused and Felicity chuckled faintly even as Robbie gave him a look that said _Daddy, you're silly_ before holding up her science book from school.

"My teacher said we had to do a project on DNA because it's real important, especially for the police," Robbie explained. "Felicity said she could show me how it works for my project."

"It's as easy as a cheek swab and then simply running it against a database full of other samples," Felicity added with a grin. "Easy as..."

The computer suddenly binged and Felicity turned to cheek the results only to go completely still, eyes widening even as her grin dropped away.

"Umm..." Her gaze darted from the screen to Robbie to Oliver and back to the screen. "I...Oliver this..."

"Can you give Felicity and me a minute, little bird," Oliver asked as he looked at Robbie. "It's work related. Then you can come back over to wait for your project stuff."

Robbie nodded, hopping down from her chair before wandering off to another part of the room. Oliver waited until she was out of earshot before turning to Felicity.

"What's wrong?"

Felicity chewed her lower lip for a moment.

"You...Well the DNA test I was showing Robbie...I...I used a swab from her...I just...I thought it would make it more interesting for her and I...I didn't mean to...I didn't think and...and Oliver I...I'm sorry I didn't mean to..."

"Felicity." He touched her shoulder and she stopped rambling, looking up at him with wide eyes. "What is it?"

She tapped a key on the keyboard and full screened the DNA results.

Oliver's heart leapt into his throat.

There were three pictures, one of which was of Robbie, on the screen along with the science stuff that Oliver didn't understand but what he did understand was the flashing result that indicated the computer, the databases that Felicity had accessed, had found two parental matches to Robbie's DNA. One of those matches was the obvious one. Oliver. Listed as Omega father on all medical records and previous DNA matching the hospital in China had insisted on. But the second match was the one Felicity was obviously wigging out about.

Malcolm Merlyn.

Oliver let out a low sound.

"Felicity..."

Before he could say anything more Felicity was tapping the keys, somehow hiding or deleting the part of the DNA results that listed Malcolm as Robbie's other father. When she looked up at him it was with understanding.

"She doesn't need to know," she explained softly, briefly glancing over where Robbie was. "Ever."

Oliver nodded slowly. "Thank you, Felicity. Just...thank you."

Felicity nodded and called Robbie back over, saying the results were in and, like a whirlwind, the little girl zipped back over to see what Felicity could show her. Oliver smiled as he watched them. Watched Robbie. His little girl looked so happy despite her recent demands to see Slade or to know why Oliver wasn't letting her see him. It was getting harder and harder to lie to her but he just wasn't ready to destroy that part of her memory.

_I'm no different than my mother,_ he suddenly realized and his heart plummeted. _She lied and claimed it was to protect Thea and I'm doing the exact same thing._


	15. Chapter 15

Oliver sat for a long time on the stairs leading up to the club, staring into the shadows and trying to figure out what to do.

His realisation that he was doing to his daughter what his mother was doing to Thea had hit hard. He'd been so certain he was protecting Robbie. But what was he protecting her from? What harm could the truth, what harm could Malcolm Merlyn, do to his daughter now? Merlyn was dead. Any threat the man posed had died with him. Right now Slade Wilson was the threat. A very real threat. One Robbie thought she could trust because she thought, believed with all her heart, that he was her father.

Scrubbing a hand over his face Oliver blew out a deep breath before standing, slowly making his way back down the stairs.

Felicity and Robbie were still at the computers, Felicity still explaining about DNA, trying to be as simple with her words as she could be and Oliver cleared his throat to get her attention. When she looked at him she no doubt saw the confliction, the doubt, that he couldn't hide but before she could ask what was wrong he spoke.

"Felicity would you...would you mind giving me a few minutes with Robbie. Please?"

Felicity nodded and Robbie climbed from her lap, watching her leave, before looking up at Oliver with those big blue eyes.

Malcolm's eyes.

Oliver drew a deep breath and sat in the chair Felicity had been using, reaching out to take his daughter's hands in his own.

Robbie, so perceptive despite her age, frowned slightly.

"Daddy? What's wrong?"

Oliver drew another deep breath. "Nothing's wrong it's just...there's something I need to tell you...something I should have told you a long time ago but...but I was afraid."

Robbie's frown deepened. "Afraid?" That, he knew, didn't fit well with the image she had of him. He was her daddy and no little girl ever thought their daddy was afraid. To her he was strong and fearless and could take on the whole world and win.

He gave a slight nod.

"Yeah," he said with another nod. "I was afraid because...because I thought telling you would mean...would mean losing you somehow but...but not telling you...it'll just make things worse in the long run and I...I don't want that."

Robbie stared at him for a minute, her bright eyes searching his face for something only she could possibly have understood before she spoke in a soft, slightly shaky, voice.

"What...What is it?"

Oliver reached up and cupped her cheek, thumb rubbing gently over the soft skin there and gave a tiny, barely there, smile.

"It's about your Dad, little bird."

And he told her.

As much as he could. He told her about Malcolm. About how they'd had a brief relationship before he'd gone on the _Gambit_ and how, after he'd washed up on Lian Yu and found his way to Slade, Slade had offered to take care of them both. He explained how, after they'd left the island and ended up in China with Maseo and Tatsu, he hadn't wanted to destroy what few good memories she'd had of her early life by telling her the truth. And that, after they'd returned to Starling, after what Malcolm had done, he'd been trying to protect her.

"But...But I realized," he said softly, seeing the hurt in her eyes. "I realized that doing this to protect you...it wouldn't protect you at all. That...That if I kept lying and you one day found out...you'd be so angry and there'd...there'd be a rift between us that I wouldn't know how to fix. And you...you more than anyone deserve to know who your Dad really is, little bird."

Robbie looked away from him.

It was a lot, perhaps too much, for her to take in. To accept.

When she finally looked at him again there were tears swimming in her eyes.

"But...But if he's not my Dad why...why did he say he came to Starling for...for me? For us?"

Oliver wiped a tear from his daughter's cheek and gave another small smile.

"Because...Because I think Slade really does love you, little bird."

Robbie blinked. "What about you? Doesn't he love you too?"

Of course she'd caught that. Sharp as a tack his little bird was.

"Some..." He paused for a moment, trying to figure out just what to say. "Some bad things happened between Slade and I, little bird, things that...that I don't think can ever be fixed."

Robbie frowned again even as more tears spilled down her face.

"Bad things like what...like what happened between you and...Mr Merlyn?"

Oliver gave a slow, shaky nod. "Yeah," he admitted. "Yeah, bad things like what happened between me and Mr Merlyn."

Robbie said nothing for a long, tense stretch of time and Oliver couldn't help but fear what she was thinking or what she would say. He knew he'd made the right choice in telling her the truth and yet he also knew that sometimes the truth hurt much more than a lie. When she finally drew a deep breath, tears still swimming in her eyes, he was surprised by what she said, more because he hadn't been expecting her words to be what they were.

"I still love you, Daddy."

Oliver wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close, cheek pressed against her curls even as she clung to him.

"I love you too, little bird," he whispered, kissing her temple, blinking back his own tears. "Now and forever."

They sat down in the foundry for a long time, Oliver just holding his little girl, softly singing to her, that old lullaby that had started with Slade. He probably should have stopped using it, a long time ago, especially after everything that had happened between him and Slade, but part of him rationalized that the lullaby still symbolized the love, the camaraderie, which had existed between them before everything had gone to hell.

Oliver wasn't really surprised when Robbie dozed off against him, given everything he'd told her and how worked up she'd become, even though she tried to hide her emotions as best se could, it would have been more surprising if she hadn't fallen asleep.

Sitting there, holding his daughter, Oliver found his mind wandering to the past.

To a memory that would haunt him until the day he died.

_He came too, still on the_ Amazo, _still chained where Slade had been torturing him. His shoulder felt like it was on fire and he could hear a strange buzzing sound._

_Though his head was still groggy from the electricity that had rendered him unconscious he managed to glance around, seeing a man behind him but unable to see what he was doing. Turning his head he saw Slade sitting not but a few feet away._

_"What...What are you doing to me..." he whimpered, pain still pulsing through him from the spot where he'd been electrocuted and from his shoulder._

_"In Roman times," the Alpha said, not looking at Oliver and he wondered if perhaps there was a sliver of the old Slade still in the man, if perhaps the Alpha, the Alpha he'd once thought to Bond to, was feeling guilty about what he was doing. "A criminal was branded, to identify his crimes to the world." Slade stood and slowly, like a prowling tiger, approached Oliver, who was confused by what the man was saying. "And to ever remind him of what he'd done."_

_Slade stepped behind him, his scent washing over Oliver, nearly drawing a whimper from the younger man. But Oliver bit it back. He knew Slade would have no mercy for him. No matter what he said or did. When the Alpha spoke again Oliver felt as though something in him shattered into a thousand little pieces. Just like the night Shado had died._

_"Shado wore this tattoo on her back," Slade rumbled quietly even as he ran his fingers over the edge of the tattoo, still fresh and painful and Oliver jerked reflexively, letting out a sharp cry even as he came to understand Slade's early statement about criminals and brandings. "Now you shall wear it for the rest of your life."_

_Oliver trembled and tried to turn his head, tried to look at Slade. "Slade...Slade please...Robbie...she...she needs me...she'll be scared...alone with...with people she doesn't know...please...she..."_

_"I will fetch our daughter soon enough," the Alpha rumbled, hand still lingering on Oliver's shoulder. "But you and I have...unfinished business to attend to first."_

_Oliver couldn't help but whimper then even as he heard Slade order the man with them to leave. Though he couldn't see what was happening Oliver heard the footsteps and then the heavy door close. He trembled again when Slade's hand slid from his shoulder, ghosting over his back, stopping at the top of his pants. "Slade...Slade please..."_

_He yelped, in surprise and pain, when the Alpha yanked his pants down with brute force. He tried to pull away, instinct telling him to fight, but being chained as he was, with a wall in front of him, meant that all he managed to do was shift slightly away from Slade. The Alpha growled, deeply, darkly, and Oliver heard a zipper being yanked down before the man grabbed his hips, yanking him back a step._

_"This is how it should have been," Slade growled in his ear, breathing ghostly over Oliver's cheek. "From the beginning. You and me and Shado. Together. We could have gotten off that godforsaken island and been free. Free to be together. To raise Roberta without this poison between us." One of Slade's hands left Oliver's hip, lifting to cover the bite mark, Shado's mark, on Oliver's chest. "But you chose someone else. Over Shado. Over your own Alpha."_

_Oliver whimpered. "Slade..."_

_"You will not make that choice again. Not with me."_

_Oliver's scream echoed off the steel walls around them._

Oliver nearly jumped out of his skin when someone unexpectedly touched his shoulder. He growled before he could scent or see who it was and felt a pang of guilt when he saw it was only Felicity. She had stepped back, no doubt because of his growl, and was holding her hands up in the universal sign of submission. He drew a deep breath and quickly looked away.

"I'm sorry," he said even as he shook his head. "I didn't...I shouldn't have..."

"Hey," Felicity touched his shoulder again, lightly, reassuringly. "Hey, it wasn't your fault. You looked...a million miles away. I should have...have said your name or...or something. I just didn't...I didn't think and you...you looked like I just took ten years off your life or something."

Oliver let out a soft sound, glancing at Robbie, who was still asleep despite what had just happened.

"I'm still sorry," he said as he looked at Felicity again. "For...For reacting like that."

"Given everything that's been happening lately I think if all you do when I startle you is growl that's a pretty good thing."

Oliver couldn't help his slight grin. He knew what his friend was saying and he appreciated it. Even if he still felt terrible for growling at her the way he had.

"So," she said softly, slowly, gaze darting to Robbie and then back to his face. "You looked pretty deep in thought. Mind if I ask...what were you thinking about?"

Oliver twitched a bit, hand half raising towards the bite mark on his shoulder, the one hidden by his shirt. But he caught himself and slowly lowered said hand. Looking at Felicity he saw, as usual, no judgement in her gaze. Just that gentleness that had first drawn him to her. With a soft sigh he leaned back a bit in his chair.

"I was thinking about...about the night Slade Bonded us."

Felicity blinked, a bit owlishly, and her mouth opened and closed several times before she finally managed to say a single word.

"Oh."

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

A few hours later and Oliver found himself standing on the roof of _Verdant_ listening to the approaching footsteps.

"Ollie?" Sara's voice was soft yet concerned. "Your message said you needed to talk. That it was urgent. What's wrong?"

He slowly turned to face his friend. The only one of his friends he could trust what he was about to say with.

"I needed to talk to you. About...About what I to happen with Robbie in case...in case something happens to me."

"Ollie..."

"We both know why Slade came to Starling," he said, seeing the memory, painful as an open wound, dance through Sara's eyes. "And...And there's a good likelihood that I...that I won't..." He paused and drew a deep breath. "I just...I need to know we have a plan in place in case something happens to me. I need to know my daughter won't...won't fall into Slade's hands."

Sara nodded slowly. "I get that," she said as she walked closer. "So, tell me, what did you have in mind?"

Oliver drew a deep breath and then sighed.

"If something happens to me I want you to grab Robbie and run. Get as far from Starling as quickly as you can."

"Ollie..."

"I don't want you to tell anyone, not even Diggle or Felicity, where you're going. Just get Robbie and run."

"Ollie, unless you don't remember, I don't exactly have a lot of options out in the world." Sara shook her head. "I just have Starling and..." She paused, the proverbial light bulb going off over her head. "You're saying you'd want me to take her to Nanda Parbat."

"There wouldn't be anywhere safer."

"That's assuming Nyssa's father wouldn't just throw us right back out. Or worse."

"If even half of the stories I've heard concerning his code of honour are true then he wouldn't allow harm to come to an innocent child. Not when that child is truly in need of protection."

Sara stared at him for a moment before a small smile graced her face.

"You're right. Ra's might turn me away but he'd never do that to a child who truly needed his help."

"So you'll do it?"

She nodded even as she reached out, taking his hand in hers, still giving him a small smile. "I swear, on my life, that if you...if anything should happen to you, Ollie, I'll see your daughter to safety. No matter what."

Oliver breathed out a sigh of relief and quickly hugged Sara, kissing her temple lightly as she returned the hug.

"Thank you," he whispered and he felt more than heard her chuckle.

"That's what friends are for, Ollie."


	16. Chapter 16

Oliver spent the next day preparing for yet another press conference for his mother's campaign for mayor, this conference one of those televised question and answer things between the candidates and, of course, that was when Slade, who'd recently freed a bus full of prisoners from Iron Heights, all of whom who had just disappeared, revealed another move in whatever plan he was unfolding in Starling.

Abducting Thea.

It took a while for Oliver to realize but Thea's abduction was merely a way for Slade to keep him busy, to keep him and the others distracted and running around the city searching for Thea instead of searching for Slade. So Oliver and Sara came up with a plan and, with Lance's help, had Slade arrested as a suspect. Oliver, once again with some help from Lance, managed to get into the integration room with Slade. As he entered the room he masked his features, looking at Slade the same way he looked at the criminals he'd hunted down and killed a year ago.

"They're calling you Deathstroke," he said, relaying the information he'd gotten from Amanda Waller and A.R.G.U.S. weeks earlier, as he stood in front of Slade, watching the amusement dance across the Alpha's face.

"It's a bit flamboyant," Slade chuckled. "I like it."

Oliver almost growled but fought it down. Instead he drew a slow, deep breath, forcing himself to remain calm. "How'd you get off the island?"

"That's your first question?"

"Well you've made it pretty clear that you're not going to tell me where my sister is," Oliver said with, perhaps, just a tad too much snark in his tone but it earn him something other than that stony mask that Slade had been wearing. "So, yeah, that's my first question."

Slade regarded him for a moment before answering.

"I swam. But it wasn't without its obstacles. Rip current dragged me under. Rock and reef cut my flesh to the bone. But the Mirakuru...it regenerated everything." He gestured to his eye patch. "Except this."

Oliver sighed, not certain if he believed Slade or not, and he slowly stepped towards the table where Slade was handcuffed. "It's just the two of us in here," he said calmly, bracing his hands on the table and leaning towards the Alpha. "So why don't we try being honest. Why are you doing this?"

Slade looked at him with an unreadable expression.

"You know why."

Oliver drew back slightly. "It's been five years."

"It was yesterday for me." Slade shook his head. "I tried to let go of the island but it still got a hold on me. And if that hood you wear every night is any indication it still got a hold of you, kid."

A small shiver rolled down Oliver's spine at Slade's use of that old nickname.

And Slade, of course, noticed immediately.

"Tell me, _kid_ ," the Alpha rumbled faintly. "Is it guilt that drove you to wear her hood? Do you keep fighting to save people because you couldn't save her? Couldn't save your own Alpha?"

Oliver couldn't bite back his growl at that. "I tried to save her," he spat back at the Alpha. "And you."

"You didn't try hard enough."

"Didn't try..." Oliver felt himself start to shake and he growled again, ignoring the sharp way Slade looked at him. "Go to hell, Slade. You may have loved Shado but I was _Bonded_ to her. _I_ felt her when she...when she died. _I_ carry that memory, that feeling, and there's not a day goes by when I don't remember or feel it."

Oliver's hands clenched into fists against the smooth surface of the table.

"I felt it all, Slade, that night. I felt her fear, her panic, her doubt. Even when she tried to block the Bond I felt it. Felt everything she was trying to hide because she didn't want me to be any more afraid than I was. Because we both knew Ivo was never going to let any of us go.

And you want to know what else I felt that night? I felt the fucking bullet, Slade, as it ripped through her. _I. Felt. It._ I felt like my skull was being ripped open and hot coals stuffed inside. I felt her die even as I saw it happen. I wake up screaming, more nights than I can count, from nightmares where I'm reliving that. Over and over again. For five years, Slade. Five. Years. You may have loved her, Slade, but you didn't have to watch and feel her die. And you don't have to carry the memory, the pain and the guilt, of that."

Slade said nothing for a long, tense minute and when he spoke his words surprised Oliver.

"I didn't know you felt your mate's pain when the Bond broke."

Oliver huffed. "They leave that part out when they teach you how wonderful a Bond is."

Slade looked down at his hands for a moment before looking back up at him.

"You felt it, then, when I killed Billy. That's why you kept rubbing at your eye for days after."

Oliver blinked, again surprised by Slade's words, but he slowly nodded, remembering the agony of feeling like a red hot poker was being driven into his skull through his eye.

"Yes."

"And you felt Merlyn die."

Oliver ground his teeth together at the mention of the Alpha who, much like Slade, had turned on him. "I felt the arrow as it pierced his chest. Felt like glass was being shattered and pushed into my very soul."

Slade regarded him silently for a moment. "Did you feel..." He gestured towards his eye patch and Oliver wished he could say no. He wished he could lie and tell Slade he hadn't felt it but it would be a lie. And they both knew it.

"Yes," he whispered softly and he was surprised, and confused, when Slade's hands, cuffed to the table, suddenly clenched and, before he could attempt to figure out what the Alpha was thinking, the Bond between them flared bright and hot. It was so sudden and so much that he gasped and his knees buckled. If not for the table he would have likely collapsed to the floor.

"Show me," Slade said, pressing at the Bond, the feeling white hot inside Oliver's head and the Omega gasped again. "Let me...let me feel what happened with her."

Oliver growled at the Alpha's demand. That memory, that feeling, wasn't Slade's to see or feel. But Oliver knew something that was. Something that might twist the Alpha up enough that he'd back off. That he'd let the barrier snap back down over their Bond. And, with a low grunt, Oliver pushed at the Bond, shoving the memory of the day Slade had Bonded them at the Alpha.

It worked.

Slade's eye widened and the Alpha drew a sharp breath, hands shaking and, before he could say or do anything Oliver pushed another memory at him. The memory of that day on the _Amazo_ when he'd been forced to choose between curing Slade and killing him. He let Slade see and feel everything that he had in those agonizing moments as he'd stared down at the Alpha, his Alpha, at war with himself about what to do. He let that sink in even as he felt something drip from his nose. It took a moment for him to realize he was bleeding. A result of the strain of forcing those memories, those feelings, through the Bond.

"Kid..." 

Slade blinked but before he could say anything else the detective in charge of finding Thea returned. The man was clearly surprised by Oliver's presence but ultimately dismissed him in favour of freeing Slade as the man had an airtight alibi. Oliver had no choice but to watch as Slade left the police station a free man. But, unbeknownst to the Alpha, Oliver had planned for it and, as he left with his mother, Diggle, Roy and Sara followed Slade while Felicity tracked him via the tracker Diggle had managed to place on the man's car.

Only to discover that Slade was still several steps ahead of him.

The Alpha had somehow cloned the trackers signal and the car the team had been tracking was a dud.

Oliver, still with his mother and daughter at the mansion, took the news as well as he could given that there were police officers hovering nearby. Once he shuffled Robbie off to her room he approached his mother who was looking at a photograph of Thea. She spoke of how when Thea had been little she'd loved coloring and Oliver couldn't handle how his mother spoke of Thea like she was already dead. He told her she should get some sleep and started to walk away, to go to Robbie, when she spoke again.

"Is my baby still alive?"

Moira sounded so heartbroken, so lost, that Oliver immediately turned back, immediately stepped towards her. Whatever was happening between them it didn't mean he couldn't comfort her when she needed it. And right now she clearly needed it.

"Yes," he said even though some small, vicious part of him whispered he couldn't know that for certain. Slade's end game, the thing Oliver didn't want to acknowledge, did not allow for Thea, or anyone close to him, to survive the fallout that was Slade's rage.

Moira shook her head, still facing away from him, and Oliver could practically fee her grief like a living creature.

"I woke up everyday for five years the mother who lost her son I...I can't..." She slowly turned and looked at him. "I can't do it again. And now you hate me and you've every justification."

Oliver glanced away quickly and what came out of his mouth wasn't what he'd meant to say.

"I don't. Not when I...I was doing the same thing."

Moira looked at him. "What? Oliver what...what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about me...me lying about who Robbie's father is and thinking...thinking I was doing it to protect her."

"Oliver..."

"Even if I had never told a soul I...I should have at least told you. Especially after learning about Thea." Oliver shook his head. "But...But how do you tell your mother that her daughter and granddaughter share a father?"

Moira made a soft sound and suddenly reached up to cup his cheek, giving him this soft, gentle smile. The smile he remembered from his childhood.

"From the moment your children are born you...worry...what the world might do to them," she said softly and Oliver knew how true her words were. "But you never stop to think what you might do to them. That we could be our own worst enemy."

"Which is why I did what you couldn't."

Moira smile faltered slightly.

"What are you talking about, Oliver?"

Oliver gave a soft huff and a somewhat bitter smile.

"I told Robbie the truth. About Malcolm."

"Oliver..." Moira shook her head, disbelief written clear as day in her face as she stepped back slightly, hand dropping from Oliver's face. "Why...Why would you..."

"Because when Thea learns the truth, and eventually she will, she's going to hate you. And me. For lying to her like we have. And I...I would not have that all happen again with my own daughter."

"Oliver..."

"My mate is dead," Oliver rumbled even as he felt Slade, bastard that he was, press at their Bond. It made lights dance behind his eyes and he shoved back, trying to force the Alpha to back down. "And right now...right now I have a very real problem in the form of...of someone else. Robbie knowing the truth about her father could very well keep her safe."

"You don't know that."

She was right but he merely shrugged.

"I don't," he agreed with a small nod. "But hope is a powerful thing, Mom."

Moira said nothing else as she looked at the photograph of Thea again.


	17. Chapter 17

Oliver left his mother at the house, only half confident she and Robbie were truly safe there, and returned to the foundry to find Roy and Sara in some sort of a standoff with Roy pinning Diggle to a table. He broke the fight up and felt guilt and doubt churn hotly in his stomach when Roy let him know exactly who he blamed for Thea's abduction and it wasn't Slade. As the younger Omega stormed off Oliver drew a deep breath, thinking he'd seek Roy out once the younger man calmed down. Before he could say anything to the others Felicity's computers beeped and she sounded almost frantic when she said his name.

When she told him what was going on he left the foundry in a fury.

Reaching Queen Consolidated he tried to keep as calm as he could as he stormed into the board room where Isabel was holding some sort of meeting.

The woman got the others to leave the room and Oliver fought harder to control his rage. He didn't want to hurt the Beta even if she had just stolen his family's company.

"What have you done," he growled as he glared at her.

"Me?" Her tone made him growl again. "Very little." Oliver slowly stepped around the table, making his way towards her. "You made it possible when you made me CEO. I know it was only temporary but it gave me the authority I needed to call an emergency board meeting. As of thirty minutes ago your company belongs to me. The directors unanimously made my appointment permanent. I'd say they lost faith in your leadership but that would imply there was any."

She gave him a smug look and he had to fight down the urge to hurt her.

"Maybe you should have focused a little less on your...evening activities," she taunted and he felt a bolt of shock mingle with his rage and for a moment he couldn't figure out how she knew but then it hit him and it felt like being run over by a truck.

"Slade," he hissed the name, realizing that the whole time she'd been working with the man trying to destroy his entire world. "You're working for him."

"With," she corrected even as he prowled towards her, forcing her to step back, walking her backwards into the nearby wall. "He knew planting me in your family's business would draw you back to Starling City. Truth be told I was sceptical but..."

He grabbed shoved her back into the wall, hand around her throat, threat clear as day even though he kept his grip loose.

"Why are you doing this," he snarled and the look she gave him was full of disgust.

"I think it's sad you don't know," she hissed. "The sins of the father are the sins of the son."

When she suddenly grabbed him, twisting and throwing him across the room he was shocked but not so much that her next attack worked. He grabbed her and spun them, slamming her face down on the table, pinning her there with a tight, fierce hold in the back of her neck, the threat clear. If she moved he'd snap her neck.

"You're going to tell me where my sister is," he growled, feeling, for the first time in almost a year, the urge to kill. "Or I am going to kill you."

Isabel said nothing and Oliver snarled.

"Where is she?!"

Isbael grunted but answered him. Telling him he could find Thea in a storage depot just outside the city limits. When he pressed, demanding to know how he could trust what she was saying she laughed at him. And then she taunted him, telling him how everything was playing out exactly how Slade wanted. With a final growl he left Isabel and went to the foundry to get his gear and then to go fetch Thea. Only to discover that Slade had already released his sister.

He rushed back to the foundry and then to the police station where Thea had turned up. 

Only his joy had having his sister back, unharmed, quickly snuffed out when Thea looked at him and told him that Slade had told her his secret. Oliver swore his heart tried to crawl up into his throat even as he took a slight step back.

"How could you not tell me that Malcolm Merlyn was my father," Thea demanded, anger and hurt filling her voice even as tears filled her eyes. "I believed in you."

Oliver felt helpless as Thea stormed away from him and Moira. "We were trying to keep you safe," he said even though it was clearly the wrong thing to say.

She scoffed and turned to give him a cold look. "Do you have any idea who you sound like?" She shot Moira a nasty glare. "You sound like her."

Oliver stood there and watched his sister leave before slowly turning to face his mother.

"I told you," he growled faintly, hands clenching at his sides. "I told you this would happen."

"Oliver..."

"You're lies haven't just destroyed your relationship with Thea but mine." He shook his head. "I told you she had the right to know the truth. If you had...If you had just told her the truth from the beginning then none of this..." He paused as his words stirred old memories, opened old wounds and had to clear the lump from his throat. "If you had told the truth from the beginning none of this would have happened."

"Oliver...please I..."

"But I suppose I'm no better," Oliver said without really think, shaking his head again. "If I had told Sl...if I had told the truth maybe none of this would have happened at all."

Without another word he turned and left. He couldn't handle being around his mother right then and he knew Thea needed time and space. Instead he went home. He needed to check on Robbie. Needed to be certain his little girl was safe. And then he would start hunting the city for Slade.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Moira returned home, hoping to find talk to Thea but her daughter had locked herself in her room and refused to answer the door so she had retreated to the sitting room. Standing there she looked over the photographs of her family, her children. Oliver had been right. Her lies, her secrets, had destroyed the bond she and Thea had. And, worse than that, Thea hated Oliver as well.

She thought about everything, about how Slade Wilson seemed to be targeting her family and felt helpless, hopeless. Letting out a soft sound she picked up her cell phone, scrolling through the contacts to the number, no name listed, that had mysteriously appeared after her last confrontation with Malcolm. She knew what it had been for, and even though she hated the man, hated everything he had done, she knew there wasn't any other choice. 

Not if she wanted to truly protect her family.

Pressing the call button she drew a deep breath and raised the phone to her ear.

It rang only four times before it was answered.

"Moira."

Moira closed her eyes for a moment before sighing.

"You need to come back to Starling," she said simply and there was silence from his end for a long, tense moment.

"You told me if I ever came near you or your family again you would inform Ra's where to find me."

"I'm making a temporary exception."

Another long pause.

"Why?"

Moira drew a deep breath and, though her voice shook slightly, she said the words out loud for the first time since Thea's abduction and safe return.

"Because a madman is targeting my family and I believe that his true purpose is that is he is after Oliver."

"I'll be there as quickly as I can."

The call disconnected and Moira let out a low sound as she once more looked at the photographs of her children. Praying she had made the right choice.


	18. Chapter 18

After checking on Robbie and making certain his mother was safely home, Thea locked up in her room, refusing to speak to either him or their mother, Oliver returned to the foundry, gathering the team and heading for Queen Consolidated's Applied Sciences division where, in a true display of vigilantism, they blew the place to kingdom come with the hope that, without the Applied Sciences industrial centrifuge, Slade and Isabel wouldn't be delayed in their attempt to replicate the Mirakuru serum.

Unfortunately because of Isabel taking over Queen Consolidated the Queen family fortune was nearly none existant. Even the shares they owned in the company were almost useless. The lawyers suggested they move their remaining assets by moving everything into a new trust that Isabel couldn't touch. The only down side was that the lawyers needed both Moira, Oliver _and_ Thea's signatures. And they both knew it wasn't likely that they would be able to convince Thea to do anything they asked.

Piling on top of that crisis was the sudden disappearance of Roy but Oliver knew they had to focus on stopping Slade before they could truly focus on finding the young Omega. Returning to the foundry with his team Oliver was trying to think of a plan to deal with Slade when Slade, bold as he ever had been, attacked them in the foundry. Their base. The place that was supposed to be their safe haven. Despite fighting fiercely Slade easily swatted them down before disappearing just as mysteriously as he had appeared.

After going to the hospital to get checked out and so Sara could have her dislocated wrist set Oliver returned to Verdant and found Thea and he tried to convince her to sign the papers that would protect what little they still had left but instead she made it very clear that she wasn't going to do what he wanted, that she felt that her life had always been destined for disaster because of who her parents were. Her words made it clear that she was going to be holding on to her anger for a long time to come.

When Oliver learned Slade's attack hadn't been about killing or maiming them but about stealing Tockman's Skeleton Key he felt like an idiot. He should have realized the Alpha had a bigger end game then just proving they couldn't keep him out of the foundry. Realizing Slade's plan was to steal whatever he needed to start mass producing the Mirakuru Oliver had Felicity check for places that houses those things and they learned there was a S.T.A.R. Labs storage facility in the city.

Oliver and Sara rushed to the facility but they were too late. Felicity tried to get answers from the S.T.A.R. Labs technicians who had managed to escape Slade, Caitlin Snow and Cisco Ramon, but they hadn't been able to tell her anything because of their confidentiality contracts. So she'd had no choice but to hack directly into Harrison Wells' files in order to find that what Slade had taken was a prototype of a new bio-transfuser. A piece of equipment that could transfuse blood from one patient into multiple patients at once. Thankfully she could track the machine because of the insane amount of electricity require to operate it. Oliver told her to let him know the moment she had the location and, despite his every instinct telling him not to, he went to once again confront Isabel, hoping he might be able to convince her to turn on Slade.

Hearing the woman spout nonsense about how she and Robert were soulmates, about how they were going to run away together, nearly pushed him to violence. But when she said that Robert had left her at the airport when he'd gotten the call about Thea breaking her arm, how she'd tried to convince him not to go, reminding him that Thea wasn't even his, and how her internship at the company being terminated, Robert never seeing or speaking to her again, he calmed. His father had known the truth. He'd known Thea wasn't his. And he'd chosen her, chosen his family, over the insane Beta who had sided with a madman all because she wanted revenge against the people she held responsible for destroying the life she'd thought she would have with Robert.

When security showed up he left without a fight and, as he was leaving, he called Thea, wanting to tell her what he'd just learned as soon as he could. He met with her after Verdant closed but, before he could tell her about Robert, about him choosing her, loving her as his own even when he knew she wasn't, Felicity called and told him the bio-transfuser had turned on and unfortunately he only had thirty to forty minutes to get to it before it finished it cycles. Despite Felicity urging him not to go, to talk to Thea, to get her to sign the documents, Oliver knew he couldn't do that. If he did thousands of people would die. The choice was taken from him when he realized Thea had left while he'd been talking to Felicity.

He rushed to the address Felicity gave him and found that Slade wasn't the one using the bio-transfuser but that he had abducted Roy and was using the young Omega's blood to create his army. After a brief confrontation with Slade and Isabel, during which he cut the power to the transfuser and managed to steal a vial of Slade's Mirakuru serum, he became distracted trying to save Roy and Isabel got the drop on him with her gun. Thankfully Felicity had told Diggle where to find him and his friend arrived just in time to put two bullets in Isabel's chest. They managed to get Roy and escape before Slade could stop them.

Getting Roy back to the foundry they did the best they could to stabilize him, unable to risk taking him to a real doctor for fear of it being discovered that he was no longer just an ordinary human. Oliver gave the vial of Mirakuru he'd taken to Felicity and asked her to see if techs from S.T.A.R. Labs to try and synthisize a cure for the Mirakuru. Despite Felicity's doubts that that would work he reassured her that it would. And then he explained about Ivo's cure and how he'd chosen to kill Slade instead of cure him. Admitting that everything that was happening now was his fault.

He left the foundry, trusting Felicity would do as he asked, and returned to the mansion to find Thea leaving with her luggage. He stopped her long enough to tell her the truth about Robert, about him knowing and not caring, about him loving her despite everything. But it wasn't enough to keep her from leaving. From telling him that Robert wasn't anything but a liar. Just like him and Moira.

Oliver watched her go and knew he'd deserved her words. He deserved her anger and hate.

Drawing a deep breath he turned and went upstairs, finding Robbie in her room, sitting on her bed, looking around the room.

"Little bird?" He frowned at the look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Is it true that...that we're going to be kicked out of the house?"

Oliver blinked. "What...Who told you that?"

The look she gave him told him she'd been on the upper landing and overheard everything when Thea had made her snappy comment to Moira about Isabel tossing them out of the house soon. Sighing softly he sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed a hand over Robbie's back. "We've had a lot of homes, we'll...we'll find a new one."

Robbie's nose wrinkled. "You said this was the last one."

Oliver drew a deep breath before giving a slight nod.

"I did," he agreed, looking around the room at the things Robbie hadn't really wanted but had accepted because she'd trusted him to know what was best. "But...But even if we don't live in this house Starling City will always be our home."

Robbie made a low sound and picked at a loose thread on her shirt before looking up at him again.

"Couldn't...Couldn't you just talk to Dad...I mean...Slade? You always say talking helps. Maybe...Maybe if you...if you talk to him we wouldn't have to move again and..." She bit her lip and stopped talking for a moment and Oliver sensed how she wasn't just upset by the idea of having to move, again, but that two people she loved, whom she had loved for years, were at war with one another. "I'm sorry. I...I know you said...but..."

Oliver wrapped his arms around her and pulled her over so she was sitting on his lap.

"I know, little bird," he said softly, pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head. "I wish...I wish I could make everything better for you. For us. I wish I could take away all the bad things and make them good. But I can't. All I can do is...is love you and take care of you and...and do the best I can to make sure that you don't get hurt because of my mistakes."

"Dad won't hurt me," Robbie whispered against his chest, sniffling slightly. "He wouldn't."

Oliver drew a deep breath and pressed another kiss to her hair.

"I want to believe that, little bird," he said softly, and he did, he wanted to believe Slade wouldn't purposely hurt Robbie, that he man's love for the little girl he'd help bring into the world and had been so willing to claim as his own would override his hatred for Oliver. "I really, really do."

He sat there with Robbie, simply holding her, until he got a call from Felicity, asking him to come back to the foundry because she wanted to go over Roy's latest blood work with him. With a sigh he left his daughter at the house, knowing that very soon he'd be looking for a new home for them both, but, he hoped, that he could figure out a way to stop Slade and Isabel before that happened.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Robbie waited until she was certain her daddy had left the house before she left her room, going in search of her grandmother, who was in the sitting room, talking to one of those men who was trying to help Moira become mayor. Scurrying away from the doorway before she was spotted she quickly made her way to Moira's room, shifting carefully through things until she found Moira's cell phone. Drawing a deep breath she hurriedly checked the call logs and the contacts. Once she found the number she wanted she punched it into the dialler on her own phone, carefully returning Moira's phone to where she'd found it before darting out of the room, not wanting to get caught.

She slipped out of the house and into the garden, ducking behind one of the large oak trees she frequently spend time hiding in, climbing up to the branch she always sat on she drew a deep breath, thumb hovering over the call button for a moment, trying to decide if this was the right thing to do. Her daddy was trying to hide things from her but she knew things were bad. She knew it was bad because he kept insisting she stay at the house. He barely let her near the foundry ever since things had started going bad.

She wanted to help but there was only one thing she could do.

With another deep breath she pressed the call button and raised her phone to her ear, all but holding her breath as she waited for the call to be answered. It rang a long time before finally a deep voice answered with a gruff and somewhat stern, "Hello?"

She hesitated for a moment before finally managing to speak.

"Dad? It's...It's me. Can...Can we talk? Or...meet...maybe?"

There was a soft sigh and she could almost see his smile.

"Of course, little bird."

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Robbie was still out in the garden, down passed the little hill where her grandfather's grave was, far enough from the house that, if Moira happened to look out, she wouldn't be seen. She'd been waiting for nearly two hours but would keep waiting for however long it took. Because this was important and her daddy had taught her that you didn't run from the important things.

She had just started to sit down, her legs were tired, when a twig or something snapped, causing her to whirl around to face the tree line, heart hammering against her ribs as a man she didn't recognize stepped from the shadows of the trees. She immediately, reflexively, moved away, remembering how men had kidnapped her Aunt Thea because they blamed her for what Moira and Mr Merlyn had done in the Glades.

"Who are you," she demanded, hand digging in her pocket for her phone, trying to dial her daddy's number without taking the phone out. "What are you doing here?"

The man gave a twisted smile and Robbie knew, just knew, that she'd made some sort of mistake in calling Slade.

"Slade sent me to bring you to him," the man said, continuing to walk towards her. "Now, you come along quietly and there won't be any problems."

Robbie shook her head and turned to run but the man was quick, quicker than she was, grabbing her by the back of the jacket and she started kicking, trying to get away but he didn't let go. She had just opened her mouth to scream, hoping someone from the house would hear her, when the man grunted in pain and suddenly released her. Because of the suddenness she had been released she didn't have time to catch herself and hit the ground with a sharp thud, knocking the wind out of her.

Looking up, terrified, she watched the man pull two arrows from his chest.

Looking around she expected to see her daddy but instead saw an archer dressed all in black, prowling forward, bow raised and arrow nocked to the string and drawn taut.

"Get away from her," the archer growled, voice deep and dark and full of fury. "Or the next one goes in your eye."

The strange man laughed and started forward. "I'm going to enjoy breaking you into a dozen pieces before I take that little brat back to my boss."

The archer growled again and, before the man could take another step, loosed his arrow. It slammed into the man's shoulder and, as he staggered back, the archer fired again but the man was ready, plucking the arrow from the air and laughing. "That all you got," he taunted and Robbie whimpered as she tried to crawl towards the house, shaking as she realized this man wasn't going to go down easily.

The archer let out a low sound. "Not even close." His arrows suddenly exploded, throwing the man back and ripping a hole in his shoulder.

Robbie gasped and tears spilled down her face as, finally able to breathe properly again, she scrambled to her feet. The archer was suddenly there, his hand steadying her even as he put himself between her and the man who was still on the ground, struggling to get back to his feet. "Run," the archer rumbled and Robbie didn't need to be told twice. She bolted, like a rabbit from a fox, heading directly for the house.

She looked back only once, watching the archer as he approached the man, and, tears still streaming down her face, she moved quicker, forcing herself to run faster.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Malcolm didn't wait to be certain Robbie was out of sight as he approached the man who had dared come to abduct her. Setting his bow down he drew his sword, which he rarely used, and approached the injured man, thankful that he'd packed double the explosives in his arrows because it meant the man couldn't get back up right away.

"You should have left when I gave you the chance," he said, fury bubbling through his veins like fire, his grip tightening on the hilt of his sword.

"Please...Please I didn't...he said..."

"I don't care. You threatened my daughter." Malcolm stalked closer. "Sending your head to Slade Wilson should be warning enough against further attempts to harm her."

The man spit a glob of saliva and blood at him. "Fuck you!"

Malcolm drew a deep breath and, though the old Arabic prayer whispered through his mind, he refused to say the words. Not for this man. Quickly, with all the skills and strength he'd been taught in Nanda Parbat and honed over the years, he severed the man's head from his shoulders. It was a small evil to commit to protect his youngest daughter.


	19. Chapter 19

Oliver was still at Verdant, talking with Laurel, when he got the call from his mother about Robbie. He rushed home to find his daughter in hysterics, Moira doing her best to comfort her, but Robbie was shaking, clearly too worked up, and Oliver rushed to her. Part of him was absolutely terrified that Slade had done something. He knelt in front of Robbie, reaching up to cup her face between his hands, searching for some sign of injury but saw nothing apparent. He tried to wipe her tears away but she just kept sobbing.

"Robbie, Robbie...little bird...it's okay, I'm here now, it's okay."

Robbie all but launched herself at him, clinging to him and sobbing into his shoulder.

He held her tightly, rubbing his hand over her back. He looked at Moira who looked torn between afraid and concerned. His expression must have asked his question for him because she was quickly speaking.

"She...She came running into the house...screaming about a man in the garden and...and an archer but...but I didn't see anyone, Oliver."

"He was there!" Robbie suddenly cried, lifting her head and looking from her grandmother to Oliver. "The man...he...he came to take me...said...said he was sent..." She let out a weak sound, clinging tighter to Oliver. "And...And the archer...he...he just...appeared and told me...to...to...run..."

Oliver frowned. Another archer in Starling? The timing felt wrong. Was it some trick of Slade's? Send one man to abduct Robbie while having another act the hero so that at a future point it would be easier to take her?

"I think she means the vigilante," Moira said but Robbie was quickly shaking her head.

"It wasn't...It wasn't!" She looked at Oliver. "He...He was dressed all in...in black and he...he had a sword...not just a bow and...and..."

She was starting to breath funny and Oliver immediately rubbed a hand up and down her back.

"Okay," he said quickly, not wanting her to have some sort of panic attack. "Okay, okay, okay. I believe you, little bird, I believe you." He kissed her forehead quickly, wiping her tears away once more. "Can you...Can you tell me anything else about the man? Or the archer?"

Robbie shook her head. "I didn't...I didn't recognize the man and the...the archer's face was covered." She whimpered and fresh tears spilled down her face. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry, Daddy, I didn't...I didn't mean to...I just thought...I thought if I could talk to him then...then maybe...maybe the bad things would stop..."

It took him a minute but he soon realized what Robbie was saying.

"You called Slade."

"What?!" Moira sounded and looked shocked. "How...How on earth could she have...Oliver that's ridiculous."

Robbie shook her head. "No...No it's not."

"How, little bird? How did you get his number?"

"From...From grandmother's phone..." She sniffled and looked at Moira, biting her lower lip. "I'm sorry...I know I shouldn't have...I'm sorry..."

"Oh, sweetheart." Moira dropped down, wrapping her arms around both Oliver and Robbie. "It's okay. It's...It's not your fault. You didn't mean any harm."

Robbie started crying all over again and, before long, she had literally exhausted herself and fell into a fitful sleep on the couch. Oliver sat there the entire time, holding her, trying to silently figure out what to do now. He was pulled from his thoughts when Moira came walking back into the room.

"I just spoke with the police," she said softly, not wanting to disturb Robbie. "They tried to track the cell phone but...but it's either been disabled or possibly thrown away. So they've...they've got nothing."

"What about the archer?"

Moira shook her head. "There's no evidence of either man Robbie claims to have seen in the garden, sweetheart. And...And the police think even if there was the archer was likely the vigilante."

"Robbie's certain it wasn't."

"Robbie is barely seven years old, Oliver, and...and someone tried to take her after she called a man she thought she could trust. Didn't you...Didn't you explain Slade Wilson was dangerous?"

Oliver sighed, brushing Robbie's hair back, looking at her sleeping face. "I did I just...I didn't think he'd take it this far."

"Why?" Moira shook her head. "For God's sake, Oliver, this is the same man who abducted your sister."

"Mom..."

"I want to know why, Oliver, why you thought he wouldn't go after Robbie after what he did to your sister."

Oliver closed his eyes. He didn't want to answer his mother. Didn't want her to know. But, when he drew a deep breath, he found himself answer despite the little voice screaming in his head to keep his mouth shut.

"Because Slade..."

He bit off his words as he suddenly felt Slade pushing at their Bond. He growled darkly, ignoring the burning in his skull, the shocked way his mother was looking at him, and, before he could think about what he was doing he pushed back at his Alpha through their Bond. Only this time instead of giving him memories he pushed his fear, the overwhelming, heart wrenching fear he'd felt when he'd thought Slade had done something to hurt Robbie. He pushed the agony of that through the Bond, even as he felt his nose begin to bled, that burning sensation once again searing through his skull.

"Oliver? Oh my God! Oliver? What's...What's wrong? What..."

He felt Slade pull back from the Bond even as he reached up and wiped the blood from his nose, not caring about it staining the sleeve of his shirt. "Sorry," he whispered, looking at his mother, trying to breathe through the pain. "Sorry...I just..."

"Oliver." Moira started to reach out to him but he shook his head, gathering Robbie up in his arms and stood, carrying his daughter upstairs. 

He thought, momentarily, about taking her to her room but changed his mind at the last moment and went to his own. He curled up on the bed around her, protectively, needing to reassure himself that she was okay, that she was still there. All of his instincts were screaming at him that he had to get her out of Starling City before Slade managed to either take her or hurt her. Drawing a deep breath, tucking Robbie closer to him, he started to think that maybe it was time to ask Sara to enact their plan to keep Robbie safe from Slade.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Slade prowled, silently, through the Queen Estate, following Oliver's scent until he reached the room where his Omega and child were sleeping. He kept quiet, not wanting to risk waking Oliver, not wanting to have to fight the man in front of Robbie. His plan to take her, to keep her safe while he finished his plans for vengeance, had backfired. Feeling Oliver's fear, tasting it like it was his own, wasn't what he had wanted. He wanted Oliver to suffer, yes, but he was trying to force the Omega back to him. To make Oliver realize that he was the only one who he could turn to. The only one who could protect him. The only one who could protect Robbie.

Oliver, even sleeping, didn't look peaceful. He looked tormented and Slade felt a small pang of guilt over that. A pang he quickly crushed. He could make up for all of that once things between them were settled. Once he didn't have to worry about anyone being there to steal the Omega away from him again.

He had just reached down to lightly touch Oliver's shoulder when he caught a scent that didn't belong.

He fought down his growl, not wanting to wake the sleeping pair on the bed, and prowled from the room. In the hallway he found the source of that strange scent.

"Funny," he rumbled faintly. "Thought you were supposed to be dead."

The darkly clad Alpha standing just down the hallway from him regarded him silently, with an icy blue gaze.

"Death can be an illusion," Malcolm replied calmly, though his gaze flickered with his rage at having found Slade near Oliver and Robbie. "You yourself know that very well."

Slade grinned a bit. "You sent me my man's head in a box. What's to stop me from sending Oliver yours?"

Malcolm's smile was warped and it confirmed what Slade already knew.

Malcolm Merlyn was a dark and twisted individual.

"You're certainly welcome to try." Malcolm's smile widened and, for less then a second, a red dot, the laser sight of a sniper rifle, flashed over Slade's heart and the Australian Alpha growled as he realized Malcolm had chosen to meet him in the hallway specifically for the purpose of the large window behind him. "I understand the Mirakuru can heal almost any wound. But tell me, Mr Wilson, how quickly would a wound from a fifty calibre bullet laced with Tibetan Pit Viper venom heal? Quickly enough for you to stop me before I removed your head like I removed your thug's?"

Slade growled darkly.

"You can't stop what I've set into motion. Even if you kill me. And Oliver will always remember that, dead or not, I kept my promise to strip everything from his life until he had nothing left but me."

"Maybe not," Malcolm said with a slight nod. "But Oliver, despite his rage and hate towards me, will turn to me for solace, for protection. He'll be mine again and it will all be thanks to you. So please, by all means, destroy his life. Destroy those around him. Because all you will really be doing is driving him right back to me."

Slade started to step towards him but that little red light blinked again and he stilled once more, growling faintly. "Most Alphas would seek to protect their mate from harm. Not hope it would drive them together again."

"Most Alphas wouldn't want to destroy their mate's world for some falsely perceived wrong."

Slade's reaction was instant and, if he was honest, not what he'd intended to do.

He lunged for Malcolm, instinctively dropping lower, hearing the glass shatter as the bullet hit it, felt the burning pain in his shoulder, the sudden sluggishness that came from the viper venom now surging through his blood. And Malcolm, having expected his attack, ducked and weaved away from him, disappearing into the shadows, and, hearing footsteps coming from Oliver's room Slade had no choice but to run or risk facing off against the Omega in a weakened, injured state. Something he knew Oliver would take advantage of.


	20. Chapter 20

After finding a bullet hole in the window in the hall outside his room, along with a small puddle of blood on the floor, blood Felicity was running through their databases, as well as every government and world database she could hack into Oliver was beginning to feel antsy and couldn't sit still for longer periods of time. After hovering at Felicity's computer station, hoping for a result, snapping at her or Diggle every time they said something. He just couldn't seem to get himself under control.

Ever since he'd step out of his bedroom that night he'd felt off his game.

It wasn't until he snapped at Sara that someone, Diggle to be specific, figured out what was going on.

"When's the last time you had a Heat," the Alpha asked him, ignoring the dual looks of shock from Felicity and Sara and the growl from Oliver.

"It was..." Oliver stopped, blinking, trying to remember. "It...umm..."

"Been long enough you can't remember."

"Which is not unusual," Felicity interjected quickly. "A lot of Omegas who have a baby don't have a Heat for years. Something to do with the hormones giving the Omega time to rear and effectively protect the child they already have."

Sara let out a soft sound as she looked at Oliver. "They may be on to something, Ollie. If you are going into Heat since you're Bonded you're going to..."

"I am not going to want anything to do with Slade," Oliver snarled at her, eyes flashing sharply, but then he blinked and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap I just...I..."

Felicity sighed. "Come here and let me run some blood work. We'll figure out if it's actually a Heat or..."

Oliver growled again, darkly, dangerously, and Felicity flinched back.

"Oliver?"

He blinked and shook his head. "Sorry...Sorry I just...I can't seem to get a handle on this."

"Maybe you should home and rest," Sara said, moving close enough to rub his arm soothingly but all it did was make his skin tighten and his instincts scream that something wasn't right. "We can keep an eye on Robbie for a while in case you do go into Heat."

"I'm..."

"Don't tell me you're fine because I won't believe it." Sara shook her head. "Now go home, Ollie. Before I knock you out and drag you there myself."

Oliver chuckled faintly, knowing she would very well carry out her threat if he didn't listen, and nodded. He hugged Robbie before he left, reassuring her that he would be fine and back in a little while. Robbie nodded, kissing his cheek, hugging him tightly, before going over to sit at the computers with Felicity. The drive from the foundry to the house was hazy and, looking back, Oliver couldn't clearly remember most of it and he was thankful to avoid his mother as he made his way up to his room because he kept stumbling and, at one point, slumped against the wall as he panted for breath.

Finally locked in his room he tugged his jacket off and kicked off his boots before collapsing onto the bed even as he broke out in a cold sweat.

He hadn't wanted to believe his friends when they suggested he was going into Heat. It had been so long since his last one he'd started thinking that he'd never have another one. Burying his face in the pillow he curled up and tried to ignore the early signs. Tried to pretend it was just the stress of dealing with Slade and the craziness that stalked Starling on a regular basis but, as sleep slowly claimed him, Oliver knew he was lying to himself.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Malcolm followed Oliver from the foundry, noticing the way his mate staggered when entering what, very soon, would no longer be the Queen Estate. He'd been keeping an eye on Oliver ever since the attempted abduction of their daughter but this was the first time he'd seen Oliver look so poorly. He was pale, much too pale, and his hands shook at his sides while sweat began to break out across his forehead.

Despite his instincts screaming at him to go and make certain his mate was alright he waited for the cover of darkness before slipping into the otherwise quiet house. Most of the staff had already been let go so it was even easier than usual to slip through the hallways to Oliver's room. He paused outside the door, listening, but heard nothing but soft whimpers and groans. His instincts beat at his mind, screaming that his mate needed him, and, before he could get control of himself, he was entering the room.

Though the room was completely dark Malcolm could see Oliver, sprawled face down on the bed, the Omega's shirt soaked with sweat and Oliver kept whimpering as his body twitched, hips rolling and even if he hadn't inhaled deeply upon entering the room Malcolm would have recognized Oliver's condition for what it was.

Heat.

Oliver was in Heat.

Malcolm couldn't help but close his eyes and inhale deeply. The scent nearly sent him to his knees and forced a low moan from his lips. Opening his eyes he slowly made his way towards the bed, trying to fight his natural responses to his mate's Heat, knowing this wasn't how he should reveal he was still alive to Oliver but, as he watched Oliver writhe, clearly desperate with need, caught in the full throes of his Heat, thrusting against the bed, trying to find release he knew he couldn't leave his beautiful mate to deal with this along. 

Oliver whimpered and turned slightly, panting, before suddenly stilling save for the quivering of his body. Those beautiful blue eyes blinked open but the haze of Heat clearly made it next to impossible for the Omega to focus properly.

"Mal...Malcolm?" Oliver blinked again as he slowly sat up and looked right at Malcolm, who now stood beside the bed. "But..." He shook his head. "You're not real...just...just the Heat playing tricks..."

Malcolm let out a deep rumble and had just started to say something when Oliver muttered something about not caring before suddenly surging forward, hand fisting in the front of Malcolm's jacket before he slotted his mouth over the Alpha's. The older man growled reflexively and grabbed hold of his mate, holding Oliver tightly, tongue tangling with the younger man's even as the scent of Oliver's Heat wrapped around him like a blanket.

When Oliver drew back, nuzzling at Malcolm's neck, whining loudly, Malcolm reached down and tugged Oliver's shirt up, pushing his mate back just enough to get the shirt off the Omega. He tossed the sweat soaked fabric aside before mouthing at Oliver's shoulder even as the Omega's hands fumbled with his jacket, trying to get it unzipped, but the Heat had him too shaken up so Malcolm gently pushed his hands away before doing it himself. Shedding both his jacket and shirt before crawling onto the bed with Oliver, pushing the Omega down onto his back, nuzzling at his chest, licking and sucking across the smooth skin.

Oliver moaned and his back arched, hands fisting in Malcolm's hair, tugging even as his hips bucked, letting the Alpha feel how hard he was.

Malcolm growled as he slid a hand between them, sucking on Oliver's nipple even as undid the Omega's jeans, hand sliding beneath the fabric to wrap around Oliver's cock, stroking him, making him thrash and gasp with need even as a fresh wave of pheromones wafted from his skin.

In a flurry of movement both Alpha and Omega managed to strip out of their remaining clothes and Malcolm rumbled deeply as his fingers went to Oliver's hole, finding him practically gushing slick.

"Look how wet you are," Malcolm purred as he easily slid two fingers into Oliver, watching his mate squirm and gasp, hips rolling, cock bobbing against his abdomen. "God, Oliver, so fucking wet. So hot. So tight. Fuck, I've missed this...missed you so much, Oliver."

"Malcolm..." Oliver panted, looking up at him with lust filled eyes, a cry falling from his lips as Malcolm pressed a third finger into him. "God...please...Malcolm, fuck...please I need...need you..."

"So needy, aren't you." Malcolm nuzzled at Oliver's throat, thrusting his fingers harder, spreading them, nailing Oliver's prostate and making the Omega practically scream with pleasure. "You want my cock so badly. Want my knot. Want it filling you up. Do you want me to fuck you, Oliver? Want me to put another baby in you?"

"Yes! Fuck, Malcolm, yes! I want...I want...it...all of it. Please!"

Just the sight of Oliver, writhing in abandon, begging for him, smelling absolutely divine in his Heat, had Malcolm's mouth watering with want. The Alpha's cock throbbed, wanted to be buried in Oliver's tight, wet heat. His mate's scent was calling to him, urging him on, making him want to fuck and claim his mate again. With a deep growl Malcolm pulled his finger's from his mate, ignoring the protesting whine, lined the head of his cock up with Oliver's dripping hole and pushed in completely with one smooth, even thrust.

Oliver's head flew back, a cry of pure ecstasy tearing from his throat, and Malcolm groaned as he curled over his mate as Oliver's legs wrapping up and around his waist, hands clawing at the backs of his shoulders. Oliver panted and looked at him, eyes blown dark with his need, and Malcolm quickly kissed his mate. It had been too long since he'd had his Omega like this and it was almost too much.

When Oliver began squirming beneath him, trying to rock up against him, trying to get him to move, he growled deeply, eyes turning nearly black as his pupils expanded with desire and, gripping his mate's hips, he set a brutal pace.

Each inward thrust had the head of his cock nailing Oliver's prostate and it drove the Omega wild. Oliver made a feeble attempt to reach down, but Malcolm batted his hand away, pinning his wrist to the bed.

“No,” he growled, rising up to look into his eyes. “I want you to finish just from this, with me inside you.” He leaned further down to breathe into Oliver's ear. “You’re close now, aren’t you?”

Oliver let out a whine. "Mal...Mal...please, I need...please...need to come."

Malcolm rumbled as his pace sped up and, after a few well aim thrusts, Oliver let out a deep groan as he came between them, coating their abdomens with his release. His body tightened and fluttered around Malcolm perfectly, driving his pleasure higher and higher but, instead of merely giving into it, he forced himself to pull out of his mate, ignoring the way Oliver whine, before flipping the younger man over and pushing right back in. With a half dozen more thrusts his knot swelled and he was filling his mate with his seed. Snarling savagely he leaned down and sank his teeth into the nape of Oliver's neck. Into his old mark. Claiming his mate again.

Oliver moaned, rocking back against the Alpha, whimpering softly as Malcolm, finally coming down from the euphoric high, slowly, carefully, rolled them to their sides. He wrapped his arms around his mate, holding him close, waiting for his knot to go down. He listened as Oliver's breathing evened out and his heart slowed with sleep. All the while nuzzling and licking at his Claiming mark on Oliver's neck.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

When Oliver woke later in the night, still in Heat and alone, he was confused and immediately scented the air and the pillows. Nothing. Only his scent. He drew a deep breath as he felt slick slide down his leg and silently chastised himself for even believing, for a moment, that Malcolm had really been there.

Malcolm was dead.

Had been dead for nearly a year.

His Heat was merely playing tricks on him. That was all.

Rolling over he buried his face in the pillow and groaned as the Heat began driving rational thoughts from his mind. He knew from the way he felt that his Heat would be finished by the next night. Shorter Heats were one of the few perks of growing older. It meant he'd be able to go back to the foundry and continue the hunt for Slade.

Groaning softly he closed his eyes and scrapped together the will to suffer through the next twenty-four hours.


	21. Chapter 21

After his Heat finally broke and he was able to leave the house, Oliver decided it was time to move somewhere a little more secure and, while Slade had managed to break into the foundry, it was still the best option. Robbie hadn't batted an eyelash at the idea but given that she'd spent the first few years of her life calling a plane home so the foundry wasn't really that bad.

Unfortunately that meant Robbie was present when Roy suddenly woke up from his comatose state and witnessed his meltdown.

Oliver and Sara hunted for Roy, Oliver worried the younger Omega would go after Thea and had Diggle shadow his sister, and then they learned Roy had attacked Sin, and, after a tip from Sin, they tracked Roy to the clock tower where Sara had initially stayed during her early weeks back in Starling. Unfortunately they weren't able to stop or capture him and, as they watched, helpless to stop him, he killed a police officer who, along with his partner, had responded to a call about the fighting. During the scuffle with Roy Oliver was hurt pretty badly and Sara had no choice but to take him, in full Arrow gear, to the hospital and have an actual doctor look at him. The doctor, thankful for the work the Arrow had done to keep medical supplies flowing to clinics and hospitals in the Glades, was more than happy to help.

Despite the help from the doctor Oliver was still in a lot of pain and as he had Felicity running facial recognition he sat mixing up the painkillers and herbs from Lian Yu. When Sara made her thoughts about Roy and how they should deal with him clear Oliver wanted badly to stop her but she got the gun and left the foundry, reminding him of his mother's rally and he could do nothing but watch her go.

Minutes before the rally he learned that his mother was planning on dropping out of the race for mayor and, it seemed, he managed to convince her to do the opposite. By telling her that it would show Thea how strong she was. That she was genuinely trying to fix her mistakes and make the city a better place. When she told him that she knew he was the Arrow, that she had known for over a year, he nearly dropped to the floor in shock. When she told him how proud she was of him he felt something akin to relief and joy wash over him.

His joy and relief were short lived however when, after Moira's speech at the rally, Thea got up in front of the cameras and basically told Roy where to find her in an attempt to draw him out. An attempt that worked. Unfortunately it resulted in several people being hurt and Thea attempting to talk to Roy, to calm him down and it reminded Oliver so much of how he'd tried to do the same with Slade that it broke a part of his very soul, especially because he knew it wouldn't work. When Sara appeared, gun drawn, ready to drop Roy, she was stopped only because Sin got in the way and Roy's focus shifted from Thea to the threat of Sara. The results of that was Sara putting a bullet in Roy's leg, hobbling him long enough that Oliver was able to put three venom laced arrows in his chest, dropping him into a comatose state once more.

After getting Roy back down into the foundry, hooked up to an IV of Tibetan Pit Viper venom to keep him unconscious, and Felicity took Robbie to get some food, Oliver and Sara had a brief conversation where he learned that she still felt she was nothing more than a killer. That it was all she would ever be. Oliver did his best to convince her otherwise, to convince her that he could help her find her way back from that darkness, but she made it clear she didn't think she deserved that. For the second time that day he had to watch Sara walk away from him only this time he didn't think she was coming back.

Oliver hurried back up to the club to be with his mother and sister, who were talking to the police. They all left the club together after Oliver reassured his mother that Robbie was safe and fine, out to dinner with a friend, trying to maintain the farce that they were still a happy family and, once the limo was moving, Thea spoke.

"You knew about Roy," she said as she looked at Oliver. "That's why you had your bodyguard stalking me."

Part of Oliver wanted to deny it. The instinct was there but he knew he couldn't. Thea wasn't stupid and would see the truth regardless of what he said.

"I'm just trying to protect you."

It was the lamest excuse on the planet even if it was true.

Thea scoffed and shook her head. "By not telling me the truth," she growled and there was a flash of Alpha dominance in her eyes. "Just like with Malcolm Merlyn. You know? Your Alpha mate?" She scoffed again. "How twisted is it that my father and my brother were Bonded?"

"Thea..." Moira started but Thea talked right over her.

"You know the two of you think you're protecting me by lying and keeping secrets but that's...that's what's actually hurting me."

Oliver felt his heart leap into his throat even as Moira let out a soft sound. The elder Omega nodding slightly.

"You're absolutely right," she said as she looked from Thea to Oliver and back again. "We need to turn a new page."

"It's not going to be that simple," Thea growled. "Or easy."

"I know," Moira agreed and Oliver made a soft placating sound, an instinctive attempt to calm them both. "If the truth were easy for me we wouldn't be in this situation. But to start there's something about Malcolm that both you and your brother need to know. Malcolm is..."

Before she could finish a truck collided with the driver side of the limo. The last thing Oliver saw before the darkness took him was Thea and Moira slumped, already unconscious, in their seats.

When he came to again it was slowly and, through the slowly lifting haze, he saw his mother, kneeling before him, bound, tears streaming down her face and, from nearby, he could hear Thea sobbing. As he finally came to he realized Slade, who was prowling behind Moira, had abducted them. He tried to move but quickly found he was bound, with several loops of rope, and as his heart pounded against his ribs he began fearing that Slade had also found and abducted Robbie. That his little girl was now in danger and there was nothing he could do about it.

"I was dead," Slade rumbled as he continued to prowl behind the Queen women. "The last time you were offered this choice."

"Slade." Oliver, unable to get free of the ropes, managed to sit up, looking up at the hateful shell of an Alpha he once loved.

"I've often wondered," Slade growled as he moved, crouching down to put himself at eye level with the Omega. "How you looked when he pointed the gun at Shado and took her from me."

"You..." Oliver bit back the urge to call Slade a psychopath, knowing it wouldn't help matters. What came out in its place was a low growl. "Shado...Shado wasn't yours!"

"No!" Slade snarled, leaning closer to Oliver. "She was ours and when I died that left just you. She was yours in the end. And you chose another woman over her."

"That's _not_ what happened!"

"It is!" Slade stood swiftly, stepping back, gesturing behind him. "She told me!"

Oliver looked, finding nothing but trees and darkness and it took his mind a moment to catch up to what Slade was talking about and he realized that the Mirakuru had done more damage to the Alpha than he could ever have thought. Letting out a low sound he shook his head and whined softly. "There's...There's no one there...Slade...there's no one there. Please...Please whatever you're seeing isn't...isn't real."

Slade snarled, a savage growl bubbling up from his chest, his dark gaze blazing with fury. Before he could retort Moira was speaking.

"You were on the island...with Oliver..." the female Omega said as she twisted enough to look up at Slade before looking at Oliver again. Thea let out a weak sound as she looked up, shocked by her mother's realization.

"Slade," Oliver pleaded, twisting his hands, trying to get free of the rope. "Slade...please...you want to punish me then you punish me...just...just let my family go. Please."

"This is your punishment," Slade said as he stepped back behind Moira. "It was always going to be your punishment."

"Slade..." Oliver shook his head. "Slade...where's Robbie? Please...Please tell me you didn't hurt her."

Slade rumbled faintly.

"Our daughter is perfectly safe. My sources say she is still at the restaurant enjoying dumpling with Miss Smoak."

"Our..." Thea looked at Oliver with wide, shock filled eyes. "He's...He's Robbie's father?"

Oliver tried to find the will, the strength, to tell his sister the truth but Moira spoke before he could.

"That's why you never wanted...wanted anyone to know." Moira's eyes alone told Oliver that she knew the truth. That she knew who Robbie's father really was and that she would protect that secret until he was ready for the truth to be known. It had Oliver whining softly.

"Honesty is not a trait your son knows," Slade said as he looked Oliver in the eye. "If he had made the right choice five years ago none of this would be necessary."

"Then let me make the right choice now," Oliver pleaded as he tried to shuffle closer, tried to keep Slade's attention focused solely on him. "Kill me."

"No!' Moira cried out, fresh tears spilling down her face and Thea began sobbing louder, begging Oliver to stop.

"Choose me, please." Oliver wasn't above begging. If it saved his mother and sister he would give up his life. "Please...Slade...choose me. Don't hurt them. Kill me."

Slade shook his head even as he moved to stand between Moira and Thea, just like Ivo had stood between Shado and Sara that horrid night five years ago. The memory of Shado, kneeling before him, looking up with that knowing look in her eyes, knowing no matter what he did they were all going to die, flooded his mind and he whined loudly as tears filled his eyes but he blinked them away.

"I'm not going to kill my mate," Slade said as he cocked the gun. "Now choose."

Oliver shook his head.

"No."

"Choose."

He growled and glared at the Alpha. "No!"

Slade swung the gun from Moira to Thea and Oliver snarled as he struggled against his bonds. "I will kill you," he spat, eyes blazing with his rage. "If you hurt them I will kill you this time!"

"Choose!"

As Thea sobbed and Moira whimpered Oliver knew there was only one way to end this without bloodshed. Drawing a deep breath he focused on the Bond between him and Slade and with another deep breath he pressed the memory of the night Shado died through the Bond. It was the memory Slade had asked for all those weeks ago at the police station. That haunting agony of feeling Shado die. It took so much effort to push the memory through the Bond that blood ran from his nose as though it had been broken and his vision swam as Slade gasped in shock and phantom pain, staggering several steps back.

"Is that...that what you wanted..." Oliver panted, tasting the blood as it dripped from his lips. "You wanted to know...to feel how she died...well...are you...satisfied?"

Slade blinked, hand rubbing over his face, entire body shaking.

"Kid..."

Slade looked at him for a moment, as though seeing him differently, but then that dark mask came crashing back down and the anger filtered back into the Alpha's gaze.

"It doesn't matter." He levelled the gun again. "I keep my promises, kid. Now make your choice."

"No." Oliver shook his head, blood still trickling from his nose. "No."

Slade started to growl but Moira let out a sudden and sharp, "Stop!"

Oliver watched as his mother slowly stood. "There's only one way this ends," Moira said, giving Oliver a soft, loving look before she turned to face Slade. "We both know that...don't we...Mr Wilson?"

Oliver let out a broken cry, knowing what she was doing, the same thing he tried to do for Shado and Sara.

"Both of my children will live," Moira said, sounding so certain even as Thea sobbed, demanding to know what she was doing. Oliver started struggling again, trying to break free, wanting, needing, to save his mother. "Thea, I love you." Slade raised the gun and Moira straightened her spine. "Close your eyes, baby."

Slade regarded Moira for a moment.

"You possess true courage," he said lowly and Oliver pushed at the Bond, trying to get Slade to stop, but Slade pushed back, inflicting more harm, Oliver felt like his mind and soul were being ripped open. The Alpha slowly lowered the gun before tucking it back into his jacket. "I'm truly sorry." He turned his back on Moira. "You did not pass that on to your son."

In a single swift movement Slade turned back to Moira, drawing a katana from beneath his coat, the blade sinking through Moira's chest.

Thea screamed and Oliver felt his world shatter around him even as his body went numb. He felt like he was drowning in ice water. When he slumped to the ground he could barely hear Thea's sobs, could barely hear Slade when the Alpha told him that only one more person needed to die before things could end. As the man stepped towards Thea Oliver swore his heart was going to climb up and out of his throat.

Oliver was surprised when the Alpha cut Thea free before disappearing into the shadows.

Thea crawled to Moira, crying, and Oliver felt the haze start to settle in on the edges of his vision just as he felt the ghost of Slade's touch through the Bond. It was too much. It was just all too much and as he blinked, the world faded out completely.


	22. Chapter 22

Oliver sat in his secondary lair, one of the other places he'd set up in the event that the foundry was compromised, fighting to keep his Bond with Slade blocked. But it was difficult. Slade was strong. The Alpha kept pushing, searching for a crack in his defences, and Oliver was becoming exhausted. Both physically and emotionally. His mother's death weighing heavily on him and he laid all the blame squarely on himself. If he had dealt with Slade years ago then none of this would have happened.

"Daddy?"

He turned his head and watched as Robbie slowly approached him.

She'd been crying.

She wasn't the only one.

"Hey, little bird," he whispered hoarsely, holding his arms open for her and wasn't surprised when she walked over, pressing close, hugging him as he wrapped his arms around her. She sniffled against his neck.

"Are you going to kill him?"

Oliver's breathing and heart stuttered at his baby girl's question. She'd barely whispered the words but she might as well have shouted. It had the same effect.

"I...I don't know, Robbie."

"I think..." She lifted her head, looking at him, eyes red and shining with fresh tears. "I think you should." He blinked in surprise at her declaration and, before he could say anything, or think of anything to say, she continued. "I know...I know you promised Tommy you...you wouldn't kill anymore but...but he killed grandmother and...and he's not Dad anymore. Not the Dad I remember and...and maybe he should...should..."

Robbie's voice cracked and she let out a soft sob and Oliver hugged her tighter, kissing her temple as she clung to him and sobbed.

How had he let things get so bad that his daughter, his precious little girl, had to be the one to suggest that he kill Slade?

He rubbed his hand over her back and started to sing her lullaby but she let out an angry sound, pushing away from him.

"No! No, don't sing that!" She shook her head, hair spilling down around her face even as tears spilled down her cheeks. "That was his song! I remember! He sang it first! I don't...I don't want to hear it anymore! I don't!" She suddenly reached up, grabbing the ball chain around her neck, the one holding Slade's dog tags and, with surprising strength, tore it from her neck. "And I don't want these anymore!"

She hurled the chain and tags across the room even as a small trickle of blood rolled down her neck from where the chain had cut her. Her breathing was ragged and she started to sob again even as Oliver immediately reach out, catching hold of her, pressing the cuff of his sleeve to her neck, not caring that the blood would stain the fabric.

"It's okay," he cooed to her, kissing her forehead. "It's okay, little bird, I won't sing it anymore if you don't want me to. I promise."

Robbie whimpered and hid her face in his shoulder, continuing to sob, clinging to him even as he heard slowly approaching footsteps. Inhaling deeply he caught the familiar scents of his friends.

"How did you find us," he asked over his shoulder, keeping most of his attention on Robbie, trying to sooth her.

"Waller," Diggle said, and really it was all he needed to say because it explained everything, and Felicity quickly spoke up.

"We were worried about you," she said, pausing when she saw the chain and dog tags on the floor near her foot, instinctively picking them up, fingers curling around the metal.

"After you missed your mother's funeral," Diggle added and Oliver felt a pang of guilt.

He had buried his father. He had buried countless friends. He had buried two of his Alphas. He couldn't handle burying his mother. Not when she had died for Thea just like Robert had died for him. He couldn't handle that and hadn't been willing to put Robbie through it all. So he'd hidden them away. It was a coward's move. But it was the only one he could make that would let him keep his sanity.

"I actually left for the cemetery," he said as Robbie's sobs turned into sniffles. "But I ended up here."

Felicity made a soft sound. "And here is?"

"A secondary facility," he said simply. "In case the foundry was compromised. But it became somewhere I could just...could just go and be alone."

Felicity stepped a little closer even as Oliver stood, cradling Robbie to him, and turning to face his friends. "My mother's dead because of me," he said, admitting it aloud for the first time. "Five years ago I could have...could have cured Slade and prevented all of this." He rubbed his had over Robbie's back, feeling her quiver against him. "And now...all the people left that I care about...we are all in his crosshairs."

He carried Robbie over to the nearby cot, setting her down, cupping her cheek and kissing the top of her head, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"It ends tonight."

Robbie blinked up at him even as Felicity made a soft sound.

"How?" 

The Beta sounded equal parts confused and curious.

Oliver tried to smile for Robbie, wanting to be reassuring, as he picked up his jacket but knew he'd failed when his little girl frowned at him, suddenly looking more like Malcolm than she ever had before.

"I'm going to...to deal with Slade," he said even as he opened up the Bond between him and the Alpha, feeling the surprise that filtered through. "I'm going to end this."

"Oliver, you really think will end once he has you," Diggle said as he shook his head, stepping towards him slowly.

"Yes." Oliver nodded even as Robbie scrambled off the cot. "Because he promised that...that he would take everything from me until all I had left was him. And he told me that one more person had to die and then it would end. I'm not going to let him kill anyone else just because...because he's trying to keep that twisted promise."

Robbie was suddenly at his side, gripping his hand and again he tried to smile for her but again he failed.

"He's my Alpha. I'm doing what I have to."

"I don't accept that," Felicity said as she crossed the room to stand right in front of him. "Malcolm Merlyn was you're Alpha and you defied that Bond to stop him. You can do that with Slade, you can..."

"Can watch another friend die? Watch him murder my sister? Or my daughter?"

Robbie flinched and Oliver regretted his words immediately but he pressed on.

"There is only one way this ends."

"What about me," Robbie asked softly, looking up at him, eyes wide. "If you...If you go what...what'll happen to me? You can't leave me. You can't!"

Oliver hugged her quickly and tightly before kneeling down, cupping her face between his hands. "Sara's...Sara's going to take care of you. We've got a plan in place and...and she's going to make sure you're safe."

Robbie shook her head, whimpering even as fresh tears spilled down her face. "No...No I don't want Sara. I want you to stay! Please...Please Daddy..."

Oliver hugged her again, pressing a kiss to her temple even as tears prickled his eyes.

"Ever since the day you were born my only thought has been to keep you safe. You are...You are the best thing I have ever created and I am so proud to call you mine." He kissed her temple again. "This is the only way I can keep you safe," he whispered, combing one hand lightly through her hair. "And I...I'm going to do anything...and everything...to keep you safe."

He pressed a kiss to forehead before he stood but as he turned Felicity stepped into his path.

"Please don't do this." Her eyes begged just as much as her voice. "You don't...You don't have to accept this, Oliver. You don't have to just accept things. Please...Please for us...for Robbie...don't do this."

He looked at Felicity softly. "Someone once told me that the essence of heroism is to die so that others can live."

"It's not that simple, Oliver," Diggle said but Oliver shook his head.

"Yes, it is. Slade's whole plan...was to drive me back to him. So I'll go back. But he won't get my daughter." He hugged Robbie to his side for a moment before gently pushing her into Diggle's arms. "Keep her safe until you get a hold of Sara. She knows what to do."

He stepped around Felicity even as Diggle held Robbie, who tried to follow him, back.

"There has to be another way," Felicity said as she turned, looking at him, wishing he would just listen to them. To her.

Oliver turned back to her and gave a sad smile. "There isn't," he whispered before taking Slade's tags from her hand, thumb rubbing over the little metal discs before tucking them and the chain into his pocket as he walked away, trusting them to get Robbie safely to Sara who would keep her promise to take Robbie to Nanda Parbat.

Oliver left his hideout and went back to the Queen Estate to find Thea and Walter talking. The place had been all but packed up, either Thea's doing or someone from the company, but it looked so empty, so haunted.

"Oliver," Walter seemed somewhat surprised and Oliver couldn't blame the man. "We missed you at the funeral."

There was no judgement in the Alpha's voice and for that Oliver was thankful.

"And the reception," Thea snarked and Oliver flinched.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there," he said as he slowly walked over to them. "What's going on here?"

"Thea's thinking of leaving Starling City," Walter said as he looked at Thea, who was refusing to look at or further acknowledge Oliver.

"No," she quickly corrected the older Alpha. "I _am_ leaving."

Oliver saw the hurt expression flicker across Walter's face and quickly asked for a moment with Thea. The Alpha seemed to think his intention was to convince Thea to stay but, if he was honest with himself, he didn't plan on it.

"Ollie, please," Thea said as she shook her head. "Just...Just don't even try to convince me to stay."

"I won't." He walked towards her. "I think it's a good idea."

She turned, giving him a confused and somewhat surprised look.

"You should get as far from Starling City as you can." He gave her a smile. "In our family, out of you, me, Robbie, Mom and Dad, you and Robbie are the best of us. You have the purest hearts. And I...I can't ever have either of you lose that."

Thea frowned and then glanced around as though looking for something.

"Where...Where is Robbie, anyways? I haven't seen her in...in days. Since before Mom..."

She trailed off and Oliver drew a deep breath.

"She's safe. Soon she'll...she'll be somewhere that not even Slade Wilson can reach."

"You're sending her away?"

"I'm keeping her safe while I...while I try to deal with an impossible situation."

"You're going after Slade."

It wasn't a question but Oliver gave a slight nod regardless. "It's me he wants. So I'm going to deal with him the only way I can. But I need to know you and Robbie are safe. It's...It's the only thing that will keep me sane. Can you...Can you accept that?"

Thea slowly nodded. Sensing how important it was for Oliver. "Okay."

Oliver smiled a little wider as he stepped closer, pulling Thea into a hug. A hug that would be their last.

"I know I haven't always been the best brother," he said as he slowly stepped back. "Or friend or...or whatever you've needed me to be. But there has not been a day since you were born where I didn't cherish having you as a sister."

Thea's lip quivered and she had to clear her throat, twice, before she spoke. "I'll...I'll call when I get settled somewhere."

Oliver nodded and then Thea was walking away from him and out the room. He drew a deep breath and dug his phone from his pocket, dialling Isabel's number, not surprised when it went to voicemail.

"It's Oliver," he rumbled. "This ends now. I'll be at the pier. I'll be alone."


	23. Chapter 23

Oliver went to the pier and waited for Slade.

All the while he could feel the Alpha through their Bond. He felt the strength and power of the man but he couldn't tell if that was natural or because of the Mirakuru.

He heard approaching footsteps but didn't turn.

"This is where it all started," he said, looking out at the water, remembering the day he'd left Starling on the _Gambit_ , the day that changed everything. "Got on the _Queen's Gambit_ right over there. Should have died on that boat. If I had none of this would have happened." He felt doubt and something unidentifiable emotion filter through the Bond and he sighed softly. "I never would have met you. Shado and my mother would still be alive. No one else is going to die because of me."

He started to turn, to face Slade, only to let out a startled grunt as a dart hit his neck, pumping some sort of anaesthetic into his body. He collapsed to the dock quickly and the world faded out to black and the last thing he saw before the darkness overcame him was a pair of boots.

When he came to again he quickly realized he was in the foundry and Felicity and Diggle were looking at him with similar expressions. It didn't take a genius to realize Felicity had likely hacked his phone, heard the call he'd made to Slade, and then Diggle had followed him, darted him and hauled him back to the foundry.

"What the hell..." He blinked to clear the lingering fuzziness of the drug from his system and watched, shocked, as Laurel emerged from the shadows behind his friends.

"Slade Wilson," she said and he felt cold dread fill him. "He told me who you were."

Oliver pushed himself to his feet. "Did he hurt you?" He'd never anticipated Slade going after or near Laurel. And he should have.

"No." Laurel walked towards him. "He was trying to hurt you. To hurt our friendship. And when you went missing I reached out to your partners. They told me what you were planning on doing."

"It's what I have to..."

Before he could finish Robbie was suddenly running to him, throwing herself upwards and into his arms. He caught her, barely, and staggered back a step, hugging her close. "Hey," he breathed as she clung to him. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay, little bird."

"You can't do that again," Robbie whispered and he felt her tears as they dripped from her cheeks onto his neck. "You can't. I...I still need you, Daddy. I'm not ready for you to go away."

Oliver hugged her tighter and glanced at Laurel, seeing the understanding in her eyes but, more than that, he saw that she had something important to tell him. "Laurel..."

"You thought about telling me the truth, the night of the Undertaking," she said softly and he slowly nodded.

"I thought about telling you almost every night."

"Why didn't you?" When he didn't answer she gave him a gentle look. "Tommy knew."

It wasn't a question. More like a declaration of something she'd clearly suspected for a while.

"You were with him," she continued and Oliver could hear the hitch in her voice. "You were with him at the end."

"His last words were about you. He wanted to know if you were safe." He closed his eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry I couldn't save him. Or my mother. But I can save you. And Thea. I can save all of you."

"No," Laurel said, shaking her head. "No, you won't. You can't do what you're thinking of doing. Oliver, your family has lost too much already. Thea and Robbie...they need you. Losing you...Thea wouldn't survive it and Robbie...she needs her daddy."

Oliver felt Robbie nod and cling to him tighter.

"But you'll all be alive," he said softly and Laurel scoffed and shook her head.

"I don't know anything about hoods and masks or human weapons or any of this," Laurel said as she looked around the foundry. "But I know you. I know you like I know my own name. And I realize it may sound crazy in light of your secret but I know who you are in your bones, Oliver."

The way she spoke, so confident and strong, immediately reminded him of Shado. He saw in Laurel's eyes the same sort of fire he had so often seen in his Alpha's.

"And that person," Laurel continued, fixing him with a look that was fiercely strong. "That person _doesn't_ give up. That person he always finds a way."

He shook his head.

"Not this time."

"You're wrong." Again she sounded so confident and strong. "You want to protect the people who you love? Then the only way to do that is to stop Slade Wilson."

"I've can't!"

"Yes, you can!" Laurel growled at him. "By stopping Sebastian Blood because Sebastian is working with Slade Wilson!"

Oliver felt shock shoot through him and he stared at Laurel and something besides shock must have shown on his face because she quickly spoke again.

"I have proof. Slade Wilson killed your mother so that Sebastian could become mayor."

Oliver drew a slow deep breath. "You were right about him." He felt ice start to fill his blood. "The man in the skull mask works for Slade and this entire time it was Sebastian."

"What's happening is bigger than you and Slade. This city needs the Arrow."

Oliver slowly nodded, knowing she was right, if Slade had Sebastian and Isabel in his pocket that meant the man's plan went deeper than simply killing a few people. He'd created an army of human weapons after all. There had to be a reason.

"Okay," he said as he slowly set Robbie on her feet, looking at Laurel and then Felicity and Diggle. "Okay, it's time to hit back." He looked solely at Felicity. "I need you to find Sebastian Blood. I think it's time I had a chat with him."

"An Oliver chat or an Arrow chat?" Felicity asked even as she moved towards her computers.

"Both."

She nodded and Oliver drew a deep breath as he glanced at Robbie. He tugged the chain and tags from his pocket, snapping the chain back together and moving to drape it over her head but she pulled back.

"I said I don't want them anymore."

Oliver crouched down, holding the tags between his fingers, reaching up to brush Robbie's hair back. "I know you're angry but these..." He glanced at the tags. "These don't represent the man Slade is now." He gave a small, barely there smile. "These represent the man who saved me. The man who kept me, kept us, safe in a place that...that was anything but safe. Slade...Slade may not be that man anymore, little bird, but it's okay to remember him as he was. To still love the man he was."

"But..."

"Do you want to know the first thing he said when you were born?"

He saw in her eyes she wanted to say no but her curiosity got the better of her and she slowly nodded.

"He was holding you, had you wrapped up an old blanket and he smiled, the first time I'd really seen him smile, and he said _I'll never let anything hurt you, little bird. I will always love and protect you._ " Oliver blinked back tears and his smile widened a bit. "And every day for nearly two years he kept that promise. He may no longer be that man, Robbie, but it's okay to hold on to the good memories. It's okay to draw strength and happiness from them."

Robbie shuffled her feet for a moment before she reached out and took the tags, slowly slipping the chain over her head, letting the tags rest against her chest.

Oliver nodded and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead just as Felicity announced she'd found Sebastian.

Oliver confronted Sebastian at the restaurant the man was having dinner at, revealing he knew the man was working with Slade and bluntly informing Sebastian that Slade would never let him restore the city as he wanted. That he was nothing but a pawn in Slade's game. A pawn Slade wouldn't hesitate to do away with the moment he was no longer necessary. And when Sebastian demanded to know how he knew he was working with Slade Oliver found he had no problem telling the man he was the Arrow.

While Oliver confronted Sebastian Diggle and Felicity abducted the man's head of security, Felicity using her hacking skills to leverage information from him.

Once they all regrouped Diggle explained that Sebastian's man had told them Slade and his men planned to take the city that night. Felicity added that Slade was using the sewer system and that they should drop in at Rock Avenue and head southeast, that the lines converged at Water Street that it was the most likely place where Slade's army would be. Despite Laurel's insistence that she could be helpful Oliver refused to agree to that. He wanted her safe. They left her and Robbie in the foundry and headed out to, hopefully, finish what things once and for all.

Unfortunately things didn't end up going according to plan.

Diggle got the charges set but one of Slade's thugs spotted Oliver before he could safely withdraw from the area where the army was and during the scuffle Laurel appeared out of nowhere, saving Oliver but also getting caught in the crosshairs. They ran, Oliver hoping Diggle would blow the charges regardless if he checked in with the man, but what he didn't know was that Diggle was under attack from Isabel, who had been injected with the Mirakuru as well. When he and Laurel ended up cornered by Slade's men he did the only thing he could and used an explosive arrow to bring the ceiling down between them and the human weapons.

But the rubble also cut him and Laurel off, with his bow and quiver on the side with Laurel who he managed to take through using one of the explosive arrows. Once they were together again they head for the surface. During the same time Felicity saved Diggle from Isabel by hitting the crazy Beta with the van. They all met back up on the street and Felicity explained that S.T.A.R. Labs had a courier in route with the cure they'd created for the Mirakuru.


	24. Chapter 24

While Oliver, Diggle and Felicity went to find the courier who'd been attacked by one of Slade's men Laurel left to meet up with her father at the station. Unfortunately they were too late and when they found the courier he was dead and the cure was gone. Taken by Slade's men. To regroup they retreated to the clock tower. While waiting for Diggle to fetch Roy and Robbie from the foundry Oliver received a call from Sebastian who was offering to give Oliver the Mirakuru cure. Once Diggle returned he and Oliver headed out, leaving Felicity with Roy and Robbie. They retrieved the cure from Sebastian, who still had delusions about being mayor and restoring the city once Slade's army was stopped, and rushed back to the clock tower where Oliver injected Roy with the cure, praying it worked.

When Lance called to tell them about the supposed military forces blocking the tunnels and bridges in and out of the city Oliver knew it was A.R.G.U.S. and tried to get Waller to call off the strike, which turned out to be a drone carrying six GBU-43 bombs, it was enough explosive power to level the city. But despite Oliver's attempts to get her to stand down she refused. She told him he had until dawn before the city was a crater.

Of course things had to go from bad to worse to total shit storm when Slade's thugs swarmed the clock tower. Thankfully though the cure worked and Roy came to. Using a zip line fired from one of Oliver's arrows they managed to escape the tower as Lyla Michaels arrived via helicopter, firing an RPG into the clock tower, destroying it and Slade's men. Together with Lyla they retreated to the foundry, which had been trashed, and they tried to formulate a plan that didn't result in them all dying.

Despite finding enough injection arrows to use the cure Diggle pointed out that Slade had an army and that what they needed was one of their own which was when Sara appeared, with Nyssa and over a dozen members of the League. Nyssa and the League were willing to help because Sara had agreed to go back. Oliver protested at first until he realized Sara wasn't returning to the League. Not truly. She was going back to the woman she loved. Nyssa informed them where to find Slade, at Queen Consolidated, and Oliver agreed to work with her and the League only if they followed his lead and didn't kill.

He was surprised when she agreed. Even more surprised when she ordered two of her men to remain behind to protect Robbie and Felicity. While he and the League went after Slade and his men at Queen Consolidated Diggle and Lyla went to A.R.G.U.S. to try and stop Waller or at least buy more time. The battle at Queen Consolidated was fierce and quick. The cure did its work but after Isabel threatened Sara Nyssa proved how lethal she was by snapping the Beta's neck. When Lance showed up, announcing Laurel had been taken and Felicity's tech showed Slade's men were attempting to flee the city. 

Before going to the tunnel to stop the army from escaping, Oliver took Felicity and Robbie, shadowed by their League bodyguards, to the Queen Estate, knowing they'd be safer there. But he also knew something Slade didn't. He knew about the cameras and listening devices Slade had planted the night he'd toured the artwork in the house. And he left Felicity with a dart that she was to use in the final showdown with Slade. Which they all knew was coming.

The battle in the tunnel was savage but they took all of Slade's men down before they could escape.

But Slade, using a stolen communicator from the foundry, informed Oliver that he'd taken Felicity, which meant he'd likely also taken Robbie, and Oliver knew the war was far from over. He went to meet Slade. Alone. Knowing it was the only way to end things once and for all.

Finding Slade, his sword to Felicity's throat, had him growling.

"Where's Robbie?" He demanded, bow raised, arrow nocked and the string drawn taut.

Slade huffed and shook his head and Oliver growled.

"Where is she, Slade?"

"Safe. I have no desire to harm our daughter."

Felicity whimpered and Slade twitched slightly, pressing the blade of his sword a little closer to her. "Drop the bow," the Alpha rumbled darkly. "Drop the bow or you're going to bury another loved one."

Oliver hesitated for a moment before doing what Slade wanted. Lowering the bow and arrow and laying them on the floor.

"Let Felicity go, Slade."

"Soon." Slade spoke as one of his men stepped forward, dragging Laurel, who was fighting to get free, with him. "I told you, the night I killed your mother than one more person had to die before this was finished."

Oliver growled.

"I'm not choosing which of my friends you kill. I won't."

Slade huffed, grinning slightly, and nodding. "You're right," he said, surprising Oliver. "There is no choice this time, kid."

Oliver's gaze darted from Laurel to Felicity, the friend in the most obvious danger but then something occurred to him. Slade said one person would die. So why abduct both Felicity and Laurel? It didn't make sense. Slade's position clearly said he'd chosen Felicity but why bring Laurel into this as well? What role did she serve? Until Slade had told her the truth about him she hadn't played any sort of part in...

His heart leapt slightly.

Sara. She was Sara's sister and Slade blamed Sara as much as he blamed Oliver for what happened to Shado.

"Sara," he breathed his friend's name. "You want Sara. That's why you took Laurel. You knew it would draw Sara out."

Slade growled faintly. "If not for that little bitch Shado would still be alive. You would have chosen your Alpha." His hand twitched slightly, causing his blade to move against Felicity's neck, making her whimper fearfully. "She's the one who lied. Who told me Ivo shot Shado for no reason. And you...you were too broken by the severed Bond to agree or disagree. You only went along with her claims because you were lost in your grief. You wanted to tell me the truth. I _saw_ that in the memories you showed me. She stopped you. She didn't want us together. Didn't want you to be with me. Selfish bitch knew I'd take you away. Keep you and Robbie safe and hidden from her and her treachery."

Oliver inhaled deeply as he realized he must have pushed more than just the memory of Shado's death through the Bond. He had given Slade all the memories and feelings associated with it as well. His heart pounded against his ribs as he realized that Slade's rage had shifted. Oliver was still a target, but of Slade's natural Alpha instinct, the need to protect from any and all perceived threats, and the person now in real danger was Sara. Who would come rushing to save Laurel because she wasn't stupid. She would put two and two together and realize Slade had taken Laurel to draw her, not Oliver, out.

And even with Nyssa and the other League members backing her Sara was no match for Slade.

"Slade, don't..."

"She's the reason all of this is happening," Slade snarled, gaze fierce and determined. "If she hadn't been on the Amazo...if she hadn't lied...if she hadn't tried to turn you against me...none of this would be! You and I...we'd be what we were always meant to be. But once she's dead...you and Robbie and I we will be a family again."

Oliver whined faintly at the mention of Robbie, his fear for her raging through him like a wildfire.

"Where's Robbie, Slade? Where's...Where's our little girl?"

Something shifted in Slade's gaze. Most likely from Oliver's deliberate use of the word _our_ rather than _my_. Slade glanced over his shoulder and another of his men emerged, dragging Robbie, who was kicking at his leg, snarling like an angry cat until she spotted Oliver.

"Daddy!"

Robbie struggled and then yelped when the man jerked her roughly back, fisting a hand in hair and wrenching her head back making her cry out in pain. Slade growled at the sound.

"I told you not to hurt her."

Slade's reaction was instantaneous. He snarled and half turned, drawing his blade away from Felicity's neck, pushing her to her knees, using his now free hand to draw his sidearm and, quick and clean, put three rounds through his man's mask. The man's grip slackened and Robbie jerked away from the thug, who dropped to the floor, twitching slightly.

Robbie started to move, making to run to Oliver, but suddenly stopped, looking up at Slade. She was the one factor in all of this that neither man could truly predict. Her attempt at contacting Slade weeks earlier had been proof of that.

"Dad," she whispered, lip quivering as tears spilled down her face. "Dad...please...please don't hurt...don't hurt Felicity. She...She's my friend. Please."

Slade, having holstered his gun, reached out to cup Robbie's cheek, giving her the softest, gentlest look imaginable and Oliver's heart ached. He remembered a lot of evenings when Slade would sit and hold Robbie as a baby and he'd look at her just like that. Like she was the greatest thing he had ever seen.

"I'm not going to hurt your friend, little bird," Slade rumbled softly, smiling at Robbie. "I promise."

Robbie made a soft sound as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. "You...You promised you'd always take...take...care of me and Daddy too but...but you lied. You...You hurt us..."

Slade twitched and Oliver expected the Alpha to deny it, to try and reason his way out of her accusation, but the Alpha slowly nodded.

"I have," he admitted, rubbing his thumb over her cheek, wiping away the tears. "I have. But I'm going to make up for that. Just...Just as soon as things are finished. I'm going to take you and your Daddy somewhere far away, somewhere we...we can all be together and I'll make up for those things."

He leaned down and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close, Robbie clung to him, whimpering softly and Oliver's heart ached even as he saw Robbie's hand move to her pocket. His little girl squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them again, pressing a soft kiss to Slade's cheek, sniffling softly.

"I'm...I'm sorry...Dad...I'm sorry..." She whispered and Oliver saw Slade frown as the man started to draw back.

"For..."

Before Slade could get the question out Robbie moved, striking like lightning, using the skills Oliver had been teaching her, to drive the dart full of Mirakuru cure into Slade's neck.


	25. Chapter 25

Slade grunted and staggered back, dropping to his knees, and Robbie darted backwards, sobbing softly, and, before Oliver could move Slade snarled, yanking the dart free, ordering his thug to kill Laurel but, thankfully, Sara emerged from the shadows, shooting the man holding her sister with a cure dart. The man was stunned long enough for Laurel to twist in his grasp, driving punch after punch to the thug's head, driving him to the floor.

"Get them out of here," Oliver shouted to Sara even as Felicity scrambled to her feet, scooping Robbie up as she moved. Sara ushered the trio away as Slade snarled and surged to his feet.

Oliver hurriedly grabbed his bow as Slade whirled, about to follow after Sara, and he nocked an arrow to the bow. "Slade!"

The Alpha paused and slowly turned.

"I'm not going to let you kill Sara," the Omega growled, fingers flexing around the arrow, trying to find the will, the strength, to loose the arrow. To do what he should have done years ago. "Not in Shado's name."

Slade snarled.

"You still can't see it! You can't see that's she's the reason we were ripped apart! That she's the reason Shado died!"

"You're wrong! I _can_ see it!" Oliver drew a deep breath. "Sara...Sara muddied everything but...but it's not her fault Ivo was a sick son of a bitch. It's not her fault that Shado died. She wasn't holding the gun. She didn't pull the trigger. She lied to try and spare you, to spare us, more pain."

Slade shook his head. "You're still blinded by her." He picked his katana up. "But I will soon remedy that."

"No." Oliver rumbled faintly. "I won't let you kill her."

He loosed the arrow but, even cured of the Mirakuru, Slade was still a trained killer. He easily deflected the arrow and charged at Oliver. His stance suggested he didn't want to hurt Oliver. Merely put him out of the fight so that he could do what he thought he had to do. Their fight reminded Oliver far too much of their battle on the Amazo, the fight where he could have cured Slade instead of driving an arrow through his eye, the fight that had haunted Oliver's dreams for years.

Eventually they went crashing through a glass door and out onto the roof.

They continued to fight even as, overheard, Waller's drone roared passed.

"You hear that," Oliver growled as Slade tried to disarm him. "That's a drone carrying enough explosives to level this city! To kill thousands of innocent people!"

"They don't matter to me."

"But Robbie does!"

Slade's grip slackened enough that Oliver was able to break free.

"Robbie is out there, right now, Slade, in danger because of you!"

Slade growled faintly, his grip shifting slightly on his katana, gaze darting away from Oliver towards the fading, blinking lights of the drone.

"If she dies, Slade," Oliver pressed, watching the emotions flicker across Slade's face. "Then it will be your fault. Her blood will be on your hands. Can you live with that? The death, _the murder_ , of our little girl?"

Slade snarled as he whirled, about to leap from the roof to the lower level, no doubt to chase after Sara to try and get Robbie back from her, but Oliver reacted quicker, moving swiftly, driving Slade back against a nearby post before using two trick arrows loaded with wire cables to tie the Alpha in place. The dark eyed man roared as he struggled against the cables but without the Mirakuru he couldn't break free.

Oliver, beaten and bloodied, slowly limped towards the man, the Alpha, that part of him still cared about.

Slade grunted as he realized he wasn't going anywhere. "You can kill me or not," he panted. "It doesn't change anything, kid."

Oliver, panting just as heavily as the Alpha, tapped his communicator, patching through to Waller, informing her it was over and demanding, begging, she call off the drone. He breathed a sigh of relief when she did. He saw the relief dance through Slade's eye, relief that Robbie wasn't going to die, and the Alpha let out a low, but deep, rumble.

"So what now, kid," he asked as his hands twitched uselessly at his sides.

Oliver limped closer, reaching out to rest his hand against Slade's heaving chest, meeting the Alpha's gaze head on even as he leaned in, pressing a soft, chaste kiss to the man's lips. He heard the surprised grunt and felt Slade strain against the cables. He drew back slightly, once more meeting the Alpha's gaze, even as sorrow filled him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, shaking his head slightly. "But I can't trust you. I can't."

"Kid."

Oliver moved before Slade could say anything else, driving the tranquilizer dart into the man's neck and watching as the drug took nearly immediate effect.

With a shaky inhale of breath Oliver stepped back and once more contacted Waller. There was only one place that would hold Slade and they had to get him there as quickly as possible.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Hours later and Oliver was sitting on a stool outside Slade's prison cell, watching the Alpha, counting down the minutes until the man would wake.

He wished he didn't have to do this.

Wished he could trust Slade out in the world but he couldn't.

He drew a deep breath as Slade suddenly jerked away, the Alpha gasping as he looked around, clearly disoriented. "Where am I?"

Oliver sighed softly as the Alpha sat up and turned to face him.

"As far from the world as I could get you," he said softly. "Where you can't hurt anyone ever again."

"You mean where I can't hurt you again," Slade rumbled as he slowly climb to his feet, slowly shaking off the linger effects of the tranquilizer. "You've learned to close the Bond. I can't feel you."

"Helps when my Alpha isn't a bio-weapon anymore."

"Feels like you're dead."

Oliver nodded slowly. "Now you know how I felt for five years. It's...It's a very hollow feeling, Slade."

"You don't have the guts to kill me. Your mercy is your weakness, kid."

"No." Oliver shook his head. "I have the strength to let you live. Even knowing how much of a threat you pose."

Slade leaned against the bars of the cell, watching him closely, face almost unreadable.

"Hell of a risk. Letting me live."

Oliver slowly stood, moving a little closer to the cell, just not close enough for Slade to reach.

"You're right but...but I'm tired of losing people, Slade. I can't go through the loss of another Alpha. And I couldn't do that to Robbie. She loves you. Even with all you've done I know she still loves you. You're her dad. You've always been her dad." Oliver drew a deep breath. "I won't be the reason she loses someone else she loves."

"You might be granting one small mercy, kid, but you're still a killer. And I should know. I created you."

Oliver nodded. "You did," he agreed, because it was true, but there was more to it then that. "You helped me become a killer when I needed to be one. You helped teach me how to do whatever it took to protect my daughter. And I'm alive today because of you. My daughter is alive because of you. I'll never deny any of that. 

And over the past year I've...I've been so tempted to go back to killing...to take the easy way out. But I stopped you, and your men, without killing. You helped me become a hero, Slade."

Slade rumbled faintly and Oliver was half tempted to reach out, to touch the man's hand, but he held back.

"Thank you, ipo."

Slade twitched slightly, eye widening a bit, and Oliver smiled, just enough for it to be noticeable before he turned and headed for the door. He heard Slade snarl and the man hit the bars.

"You think I won't get out of here?!"

Oliver paused as he opened the door, turning to look back at Alpha. "You might," he admitted, knowing there was always the possibility of Slade escaping. "But...But that's a risk I guess I'll have to take."

Slade growled. "I still have a promise to keep, kid."

Oliver drew a deep breath. "You'll have a lot of time to think over that promise. This is purgatory, Slade. All you'll have is time."

He turned away again and, as he stepped out of the room, he heard Slade roaring behind him. Snarling that he would keep his promise. That he always kept his promises. The door closed behind him but he could still hear the faint sound of Slade's shouts. Climbing up the ladder he found Diggle and Felicity waiting for him on the beach. Together they returned to their borrowed A.R.G.U.S. plane and then flew back home. They all knew there was a lot of clean up left in Starling City but they all felt stronger. Strong enough to face whatever came their way next.


	26. Chapter 26

Malcolm, through his well placed connections in the city, learned quickly enough that Oliver had managed to take down Slade Wilson and his army. That the Mirakuru cure had worked. It was a relief. As much as knowing his mate and children were safe. While he waited to hear from Thea, whom he had saved at the train station from one of Slade's thugs, revealing to her he was in fact still alive in the process, he slipped off across the city to Laurel Lance's apartment where Oliver had left Robbie while he flew Slade off to some as of yet unknown location.

It was information he would get later from one source or another.

He waited until Laurel left the apartment with her sister and her father, leaving Robbie sleeping in her bed, before he slipped, quiet as a shadow, into the apartment. He was somewhat disappointed that Sara, as a member of the League, hadn't somehow upped her sister's security. But her mistake was his gain. Made things easier. He drew a soft but deep breath as he walked into the bedroom, finding his little girl curled up beneath one of Laurel's quilts, something he recognized as something Tommy had bought Laurel when they'd been dating, and he smiled.

Sitting on the edge of the bed he reached down and gently brushed Robbie's hair back, tucking the strands behind her ear, his smile never wavering.

She looked so much like Oliver.

"My precious little girl," he whispered and, either the sound of his voice or the scent of him caused Robbie to stir slightly. She didn't wake, not fully, but her nose wrinkled and she whimpered softly. He immediately let out a soft, soothing rumble, watching as Robbie settled back into sleep.

He thought of how easily he could have lost her.

Could have lost Oliver.

And part of him wanted to put an arrow through Slade Wilson's skull for daring to think he had a right, a claim, to Oliver and Robbie. For putting both of them through the hell he had. He didn't care if the Australian Alpha had Bonded with Oliver. Didn't care that Robbie believed the man to be her father. He wanted to see the other Alpha dead at his feet. But he knew doing so would cause both his mate and child pain. Pain they would likely never forgive him for.

So instead he would spare Slade's life.

Let him rot away in whatever prison Oliver placed him.

Let him live knowing he'd driven Oliver away from him with his scheming and killing.

It was fitting punishment.

When Robbie shifted in her sleep, whimpering softly, eyes darting wildly behind her closed lids, Malcolm knew she was having a nightmare.

He reached out and gently rubbed his hand over her back.

"Shh," he cooed to her, leaning down to nuzzle her hair, comforting her even as she slept. "It's alright now. It's alright, sweetheart. I'm right here. You're safe. You'll always be safe when I'm with you."

Robbie whimpered again, lashes fluttering, but slowly she settled.

"That's it. That's my good girl."

Malcolm gently, lightly, ran his fingers through Robbie's hair when his phone suddenly chirped. He didn't need to look at it to know it was Thea. He'd been waiting for her call after all. Drawing a deep breath he pressed a quick kiss to Robbie's temple. Swearing he'd return, soon, for her and Oliver.

Using the same scent blocker he'd used the night with Oliver to rid the apartment of his scent Malcolm slipped out into the darkness of the city. A darkness that was slowly giving way to the early morning light. He checked his phone as he walked. Sending a quick message to Thea about where she could meet him. Drawing another deep breath he met his driver a block away from Laurel's apartment. As the driver pulled out into the light traffic, most folks were still hiding in their homes for fear of the so called terrorists plaguing the city, Malcolm let his thoughts turn from Oliver and their daughter to Thea and how, in the coming months, he would need to train his eldest daughter to be strong.

There was death coming for him, for his family, and he could not afford to have her as defenceless as she had been tonight.

Slade's men had been mere thugs with superhuman strength. No true training or discipline. Easily dispatched with well timed strikes.

The danger coming for them now had centuries of honed training. They would not be so easily stopped.

And the only way to protect Thea, to protect Oliver and Robbie, was to ensure they were all stronger than the enemy that was now coming. Before it was too late.


End file.
